Things Happen
by dhrachth
Summary: Set just after the end of the anime. Yuki&Shuichi. Day to day life stuff. There's a tour and everyone is actually happy for a while. Complete!
1. Chapter 1: A Party

Updating formatting, story unchanged

Disclaimer: None of this is mine. 

A/N: 

-I know Mizuki is an editor rather than a manager, but I changed it for convenience sake. 

-This is based on and has spoilers for the whole anime. I'm reading the comic too so some of that is in there. 

-Rating is based on a sex scene in chapter 6, graphic enough to be NC-17 if it were a movie but quite a bit less than most romance novels. Mostly light fluffy stuff but brief hard-R. You've been warned. 

-'ships Yuki/Shuichi and a little Hiro/Ayaka & Tohma/Mika 

-To those who know me from Buffy-fic, give Gravi a try! It's m/m romance and really cute.

Chapter 1

Shuichi--who was sprawled on the couch with the TV remote clasped in one hand and his head resting in Yuki's lap--was rapidly flipping through channels, looking for something--anything--to watch. Yuki was reading and every so often absentmindedly running a his fingers through Shuichi's hair.

Finally giving up on finding anything decent to watch, Shuichi switched off the TV. Flipping over onto his back and looking up at Yuki, Shuichi had to smile at his good fortune.

Last week had been the worst week of Shuichi's life. First, Yuki went away just when Shuichi thought things were going so well. Then, when Shuichi finally found him, Yuki was so very close to killing himself. If Shuichi had been a few minutes later... that was something Shuichi just couldn't bear to contemplate.

This week had been the best week ever! Yuki wasn't working on a book and Bad Luck had been given a couple weeks of vacation before they started their national tour. Shuichi and Yuki had spent the entire week together--sleeping late, going out to eat, taking walks, cuddling on the couch--and Yuki hadn't pushed him away once. Yuki'd told him to shut up and go to sleep or to either get out of the kitchen or at least not touch the food and other typically Yuki things to say, but Yuki didn't once threaten to kick Shuichi out or to leave himself--which was a definite improvement.

The phone rang, interrupting Shuichi's reverie. Starting to get kind of bored anyway, Shuichi welcomed the distraction. Watching Yuki read was only entertaining for so long, no matter how drop dead gorgeous the man happened to be. Shuichi hopped off the couch and ran over to the wall mounted kitchen phone, almost falling over in the process as his socks slipped on the hardwood floor. "I'll get it!" he shouted out, as if that wasn't already completely obvious.

Yuki only grunted in reply, not even looking up from his book.

"Hello," Shuichi answered, slightly out of breath from his dash and stumble across the living room.

"Put my brother on the phone," the woman on the other end ordered.

"Yuki, it's your sister," Shuichi said.

"I'm not here," Yuki said, still reading.

"But, what if it's something important?" Shuichi protested, wishing that Yuki would reconcile with his family. They all seemed to really care about him, and family is important. Shuichi also made a mental note to call Maiko.

"Then take a message," Yuki suggested, clearly unconcerned.

"Fine," Shuichi gave up for the time being. "I'm sorry Mika-san, he's not here right now. Can I take a message?" Shuichi said into the phone.

"I know he's there," Mika said, "I heard your entire conversation very clearly. Tell Eiri that if he doesn't pick up the phone I'm coming over."

"Oh," was Shuichi's only reply, as he suddenly realized that he'd completely forgotten to so much as cover the receiver with his hand when he'd spoken to Yuki.

"And, tell him that I'm less than ten minutes away so he doesn't get any bright ideas about slipping out before I arrive," Mika added.

Holding out the phone to Yuki, Shuichi repeated, "She knows you're here, and says she's coming over if you don't talk to her."

Yuki eyed the front door, obviously contemplating flight.

"She's not that far away," Shuichi added, marveling at Mika's ability to predict her brother's behavior. Shuichi never knew what Yuki was going to do next. "I don't think you can get away before you she gets here."

"Give me the phone," Yuki said sourly. Talking to his family always put Yuki in a bad mood. "What?" he asked his sister rudely.

After listening to what his sister had to say, Yuki told her, "As much as I love dressing up in a penguin suit and letting a bunch of overweight, middle aged, corporate wives fawn all over me for the good of Tohma's company, I'm afraid I'll have to pass." Yuki paused for a second as Mika replied then said, "Because, that would mean leaving Shuichi home alone. Without me here to baby-sit there's no telling what horrors he might inflict on my poor defenseless apartment."

"Yukii!" Shuichi protested. He'd been left alone in the apartment plenty of times without anything bad happening. Yuki merely arched one eyebrow in his standard 'you do know you're a complete idiot' manner. Suddenly getting an inkling of what Yuki might have actually meant by his statement, Shuichi gasped and cuddled up to Yuki's side almost purring Yuki's name.

"No, I'm not coming," Yuki persisted in turning down Mika's invitation. Yuki listened to his sister's arguments for a few more minutes, with a bored expression on his face, periodically telling her "no." Disentangling himself from Shuichi, Yuki started walking toward the kitchen, obviously planning to hang up on his sister. Halfway there, Yuki stopped mid-step, looking rather shocked, and said incredulously, "Seriously?" Yuki stood in the middle of the room, still looking surprised, and listened to Mika. "And Tohma agreed to this?" he asked. Finally, Yuki shrugged and said, "We'll see you Tuesday."

"What did Mika-san say?" Shuichi asked curiously.

"You have a tux, don't you?" Yuki replied. "We're going to a party Tuesday."

* * *

Shuichi stood in front of the mirror--tongue sticking out one side of his mouth, and squinting at the rumpled bit of pink silk hanging about his neck. He'd tried three times to tie his bowtie and three times he'd failed.

Yuki was leaning against the dresser, immaculate in a classic black tux, watching his lover fumble his fourth attempt at tying the pink tie. Shuichi was dressed in a black tux with pink cummerbund and bowtie to match his hair--or he would be dressed when he finally got the bowtie on. As Shuichi started his fifth attempt, Yuki pointedly glanced at his watch.

Catching Yuki's gesture in the mirror, Shuichi whirled around and placing his hands on his hips said waspishly, "If you'd help me instead of just standing there smirking and looking at your watch we could have left already."

Yuki simply sauntered over to his irritated lover, turned Shuichi around so that he was facing the mirror again, and tied the tie from behind. "I know you've dressed up for award shows and movie premieres without my help. What did you do then?" Yuki asked as he straightened the newly tied bowtie.

"Hiro usually helps," Shuichi said sulkily, looking down at the floor.

"What's your problem, brat?" Yuki demanded, hands on Shuichi's shoulders holding him in place.

Shuichi's head flew up in surprise and his eyes met Yuki's in the mirror. Yuki had asked about him and had even almost sounded concerned. Yuki never sounded concerned about him. "Uhmm... no problem," Shuichi murmured, embarrassed.

Yuki just stood there, not letting go and looking very skeptical.

"Okay, maybe I'm a little worried," Shuichi admitted.

"About what?" Yuki snorted, obviously not seeing any reason for worry.

"Well... You never told me why Mika invited me. I'm sure she really doesn't want me there and is just letting me come to please you. And, I've never been to a fancy party with a bunch of sophisticated rich people. I won't know how to act. What if I do the wrong thing and embarrass you? And, Seguchi-san--"

"Idiot," Yuki said, cutting Shuichi off before he could work himself into a full-fledged panic attack. "Mika invited you because she thinks you're good for me. She was ecstatic to find out I wasn't coming without you. Those sophisticated rich people you're so intimidated by are just the same as everyone else, only more annoying. As for embarrassing me, you do that all the time. I've gotten used to it."

"What about Seguchi-san?" Shuichi asked somewhat reassured but still gnawing on his lower lip worriedly.

Yuki shrugged and said, "Tohma will adjust. He only has these parties so he can pick a few corporate pockets while the execs are dazzled by celebrities. Having one more celebrity on hand couldn't hurt."

"I'm a celebrity?" Shuichi said, turning around to face Yuki.

"Idiot," Yuki said affectionately, "Your record just went platinum. What do you think that makes you?"

"Oh yeah," Shuichi said scratching the back of his head and with an embarrassed grin on his face. "I forgot. Six months ago no one knew who Bad Luck was. It all happened so fast. Sometimes I forget that we're Japan's #1 music success."

"Number-one. Humble aren't we," Yuki observed dryly as he pulled Shuichi toward the door. They were already running late.

* * *

Thanks to Yuki's driving, they managed to arrive at 8 o'clock on the dot. Mika met them at the door, clad in a sequined emerald dress that screamed Paris original and tapping the toe of a stiletto pump impatiently. "You're this close to late," Mika said holding up her thumb and forefinger just a fraction of an inch apart as she pulled Yuki and Shuichi into the cloakroom off one side of the foyer.

"Which would make us right on time," Yuki pointed out, wondering what had gotten Mika's knickers in a twist. She wouldn't normally pounce on him at the door unless he was late enough for her to legitimately claim she thought he might be dead on the side of the road and that she'd been just about to start calling hospitals.

Mika took a deep calming breath then said, "Sorry. Noriko's daughter got the chicken poxes, Ryuichi decided he wanted to go to ice-capades instead come here--which I suppose is actually a blessing since Noriko isn't here to look after him. All the business-types are deeply immersed in conversation about interest rates and free trade agreements--except for Miss Takeda who keeps asking after you with a terribly serious look on her face, and 'do call her Miss Takeda or better yet Trisha because she grew up in America and doesn't understand all this -san nonsense.'"

"Why didn't Tohma draft some of NG's other acts for entertainment when Noriko and Ryuichi cancelled?" Yuki asked, not overly sympathetic--Mika was the one who organized this party after all--but now he at least understood his sister's bad mood.

"That would be gauche. Nittle Grasper, you, and by extension Shuichi are all people we would logically socialize with. Other NG acts would obviously be here only to be put on display," Mika pointed out.

Shuichi watched this interchange silently as he struggled to take off his coat. The lining had somehow caught on one of his cuff links and he was having a time getting it loose.

Yuki removed his coat, hung it up, then unhooked Shuichi's sleeve for him. Shuichi looked at him with a worshipful expression--grateful to finally be free of his coat, just when he thought it'd never come off. Yuki merely rolled his eyes. Unhooking the cuff link wasn't in any way difficult, since he had two hands free to take care of it, but Shuichi was easily impressed.

Once the coats were off and hung up, Mika started to open the door to lead them back to the party proper. Turning back one last time before they left, Mika gave Yuki a hard look and asked, "What are you up to?"

"Up to?" Yuki said, giving his sister his best wide-eyed innocent look--he wasn't very successful at looking innocent, but he tried. "What could I possibly be up to?"

"I don't know, but you're being entirely too nice," Mika pointed out. "You hate these things and usually bitch about being here from the minute you come in right up to the moment you're introduced to the other guests."

Yuki shrugged and, reaching for the coat he just took off, he said, "If you don't want me here, that's fine with me. We'll just get our coats and leave."

"Don't you dare," Mika ordered. "Reverse psychology. Very clever. But it won't work. You're going to go out there, act charming, and keep our guests busy, or..." Mika trailed off threateningly.

"Or what?" Yuki asked.

"Or next time I talk to Dad I'm going to suggest that if you won't visit him, perhaps he should come visit you," Mika finished.

"You wouldn't," Yuki said, sounding appalled.

"Try me," Mika answered in a steely tone as she whirled around and left the cloakroom.

Shuichi, a firm believer in familial reconciliation, asked, "Yuki? Would your father visiting you really be that bad?"

"Yes, it would," Yuki answered without hesitation. "Fortunately, he's not coming. There's nothing Mika could say or do to pry him out of his temple," Yuki said, suddenly sounding completely unconcerned.

"So we're really here to help Mika out? That's so sweet," Shuichi said delightedly.

"Right," Yuki agreed in that way that isn't really agreeing.

"You are up to something," Shuichi accused. "What are you planning to do?"

"Nothing but what Mika invited us here for. We're going to keep her guests entertained," Yuki said in all innocence. Then Yuki dragged a still suspicious Shuichi out to the party proper.

"Eiri, so good of you to come," Mika said walking over to Yuki and kissing his cheek, as if she hadn't been lying in wait for him at the front door and they were seeing each other for the first time that night.

"You look as beautiful as always," Yuki said, smoothly returning his sisters greeting.

Turning back to the short balding man she'd been speaking with, Mika continued, "Matsura-san, I believe you've met my brother?"

"Yes," Matsura agreed, "Yuki-san persuaded me in favor of the Mercedes last Christmas. Meiko has been so happy with hers that I've been considering getting one myself."

"As unpatriotic as it is to say, no one can beat German engineering," Yuki agreed. Then before Mika could pull Shuichi away to introduce him to another group, Yuki placed a possessive hand on the small of Shuichi's back and said to Matsura, "I don't believe you've met Shu-chan, Matsura-san, this is Shindo Shuichi, my lover."

Matsura choked on the sip of champagne he'd just taken, then after coughing and gasping for breath he said, obviously uncomfortable, "Pleasure to meet you Shindo-san, but if you'll excuse me, my mother seems to need me for something."

Shuichi, blushing scarlet and looking at Yuki like he'd just lost his mind, didn't even notice Mr. Matsura's departure. "Yuki! You did that on purpose!" Shuichi hissed as he pulled Yuki to a secluded corner of the room, behind a potted plant.

"Yes, and?" Yuki asked, not in the least apologetic.

"But why?" Shuichi asked, completely puzzled by Yuki's behavior.

"Matsura is a bore. I didn't feel like talking to him."

"Yuki, that's mean. You shocked that poor man on purpose, just to get rid of him. It's like you don't even care if you ruin your sister's party," Shuichi reprimanded his lover.

"If the idea of two men together bothers him so much, that's his problem. Besides, we could strip naked and have sex in the middle of the dinner table and it wouldn't ruin the party," Yuki contradicted. "Actually, that's not a bad idea," Yuki added facetiously. "All the wealthiest people in Japan would line up around the block for an invitation to one of Tohma and Mika's parties for years to come. That's the kind of titillation money just can't buy," Yuki finished, sneering slightly in derision of the plebian tastes of so-called sophisticates.

"Yukiii!" Shuichi whined, blushing brightly at Yuki's teasing--or at least what he hoped was teasing.

"Come on," Yuki said, pleased to have gotten the reaction from Shuichi that he'd been going for. Throwing one arm around Shuichi's shoulders, Yuki pulled his lover out into the middle of the vast living room where the other couples were socializing. "I'll introduce you around."

Shuichi nervously squirmed a little, thinking Yuki wasn't serious about the whole dinner table thing but not really sure. He let Yuki lead him out from behind the potted plant anyway.

As soon as they stepped out of the shadows two blonde women started making a beeline toward Yuki and Shuichi. "Ah, the Takeda women, Crystal and her daughter Trisha. Crystal is Takeda Akira's fourth wife, an ex-stripper from Texas," Yuki commented. At Shuichi's blank look Yuki added, "Texas is a State, in the US. She also likes to pinch so make sure she's not behind you."

"Really?" Shuichi said disbelievingly.

"Some people like to live the stereo-type," Yuki confirmed. "And, if I were to write a novel featuring a Japanese business man with a thing for busty, foreign, blonds the literary community would have me stoned," he added, unusually chatty for once.

"Eiri, it's lovely to see you again," Crystal greeted Yuki in English. "It's been too long. I don't think you've met my daughter, Trish."

Trisha just waved and smiled.

"It's only been two years," Yuki replied in Japanese, in a tone implying that even longer would have been perfectly fine with him.

"Eiri, dear, have you forgotten your English so fast? You used to speak English beautifully and I was so looking forward to having a conversation in my native language. Akira only speaks Japanese, you know," Crystal chided in English. Yuki's subtle hint that he was less than enthused to see her passed directly over the woman's head.

"Shuichi doesn't speak a word of English," Yuki replied, sticking with Japanese and stepping behind Shuichi so that he could easily wrap both arms around his befuddled lover.

"We saw the report on the news about... well... you know. We--that is--Akira thought it was some sort of publicity stunt," Crystal said laughing nervously. "There's your sister, if you'll excuse me, I simply must ask her about her caterer. The canapés are to die for."

Trisha, looking slightly embarrassed, said, "Please forgive my mother, she's awfully old fashioned but she means well."

"Does she?" Yuki said skeptically.

"I'm sure she does," Shuichi contradicted Yuki, always willing to give everyone a chance.

"Actually, I really admire both of you for being willing to make such an unpopular political statement in a country as backwards as Japan is when it comes to sexual liberation," Trisha continued.

"Uhmm... Thanks?" Shuichi said, having no idea what she was talking about.

"Politics are irrelevant," Yuki replied one hand drifting off Shuichi's shoulder across his chest and inside Shuichi's jacket, "I'm just in it for the sex."

Keeping her eyes glued to Yuki's hand as it rubbed Shuichi's nipple through the thin material of his shirt, Trisha licked her lips and went on haltingly, "But you have to admit--admit that it takes a certain amount of courage to, uh, to openly display such an unpopular form of affection."

Shuichi, blushing furiously yet again, clamped his jaw shut to keep any embarrassing squeaks or moan from escaping and grabbed Yuki's hand to stop it's distracting movement.

"Unpopular with whom?" Yuki asked. "Our respective sales shot up after we publicly announced our relationship."

"The fans have been really nice about it," Shuichi contributed to the conversation. "There were a lot of girls wearing t-shirts that said Eiri and Shuichi Forever inside a big heart at my last concert."

"You're so lucky that people have been so supportive of your relationship," Trisha acknowledged, but still not willing to give up her point she pressed on, "It's such a tragedy that all same-sex couples don't receive the same warm reception. Don't you wish society would learn to be more accepting of alternative lifestyles so that couples like yourselves can freely admit their love without worrying if everything is going to be okay?"

"If some prancing little fag has to sneak around because he's afraid people won't like him anymore, that's not my problem," Yuki said baldly, never one to sympathize with human frailty.

"If you'll excuse me," Trisha said in a brittle tone, then wandered off to speak with someone else.

"What did she do?" Shuichi asked pulling out of Yuki's grasp and turning to face him. "She was trying to be nice."

"She was trying to turn us into the spokes couple for her pet political crusade. I'd have preferred if she'd just tried to grab my ass," Yuki explained.

"Are you just going to be mean to people all night?" Shuichi demanded to know.

"Probably," Yuki acknowledged.

"Will you please stop, for me?" Shuichi begged, giving Yuki puppy dog eyes.

Yuki was tempted to give in right then, since Shuichi was asking so nicely, but he had a reputation to maintain. Going all softhearted just because the brat fluttered his eyelashes wasn't going to happen. "Why should I?" Yuki asked coldly.

"Because you're just using me as a tool to upset people!" Shuichi said. "It's not right and I don't like it. You called me Shu-chan, and hugged me in public in front of everyone, and... and other stuff and you don't ever act like that at home! You doing that stuff just to mess with people is just wrong," Shuichi finished, starting to sniffle just a little bit.

For a second Yuki was tempted to apologize, then reminding himself that he never apologizes for anything, especially not when it was just another instance of Shuichi being overly sensitive, he said, as if making some major allowance for Shuichi's sake, "Since it bothers you that much I'll stop, but only on one condition."

"Condition?" Shuichi asked, sounding surprised to get even that much consideration from Yuki.

"If I'm going to give up a perfect opportunity to convince my sister to stop nagging me to come to these things, you're going to have to do something for me. It's at least an hour before dinner, spend it with me in the cloakroom." Yuki said.

"Huh?"

"You... me... large pile of fur coats..." Yuki suggestively whispered next to Shuichi's ear--never thinking Shuichi'd actually go for it but never missing a chance to wind his lover up.

"Uh," Shuichi swallowed hard, blushed yet again, then said, "Okay."

Shocked at Shuichi's ready acceptance of the proposition but quick to take advantage of the unexpected situation, Yuki quickly planned their escape, "One quick lap around the room to establish our presence, then we slip away."

Yuki led Shuichi from group to group, making introductions and saying their hellos then moving on to the next group as swiftly as politely possible. Some of the guests were still a bit uncomfortable around the pair seeing as Yuki kept a firm grip on Shuichi for fear that his petite lover would change his mind and make a run for it. Not to mention the many women who were displeased to see the handsome Yuki Eiri permanently taken off the market. However, Shuichi couldn't complain about Yuki's, now, faultlessly charming behavior.

Fifteen minutes later Yuki was dragging Shuichi into the cloakroom and shutting the door behind them.

* * *

Tohma agreed with Aso-san about the deplorable lack of decorum in the younger generation then excused himself to go speak with his wife--who was currently occupied with Matsura-san and Matsura-san's mother, Mutsumi--the classic opinionated old lady type, sort of short and stout with mostly gray hair twisted up in a tidey bun--but with a lively smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

"Mika-san, have you seen Eiri-san lately? I saw him a while ago, but he disappeared before I had a chance to speak with him," Tohma asked, giving the mother-son duo a genial smile.

"I haven't seen Eiri since just after he got here," Mika answered.

"I spoke with him and his boyfriend just a few moments ago," Mutsumi said. "He probably stepped outside to smoke. They went into the foyer when they left me." Turning back to Mika, she said, "Mika, I don't mind telling you I had my doubts when I heard that Yuki-san was dating a pop singer. I said to myself, 'He's found himself another one, you know what musicians are--' present company excluded," Mutsumi interrupted herself remembering that Tohma was there. Then continuing her original thought she said, "'except this time she's a boy.' But, I have to say that Shindo Shuichi's a real cutie."

"Mother!" Matsura exclaimed, appalled at his mother's approval of the relationship.

"Don't be so uptight," Mutsumi reprimanded her son. "Shindo-san might not be the brightest person, and it's unfortunate he's not a girl, but at least he's not that wretched French model Eiri brought to the last function, or that horrible German stewardess from Christmas."

"Ah... yes," Tohma kind of agreed. He didn't like the models, actresses, or other miscellaneous women Yuki had dated over the years either, but on the other hand those women didn't worry Tohma like Shuichi did. "If you'll excuse me, there's a matter I need to discuss with my brother-in-law," he politely excused himself from the conversation.

Tohma crossed the foyer and looked out the front door. Yuki was nowhere to be seen on the porch. Tohma figured Yuki must have come back in while Mutsumi-san wasn't looking. Just as he was about to start searching the upstairs, Tohma heard muffled sounds coming from the cloakroom.

He opened the door just enough to see inside, then froze. There they were, the missing couple, lying together in a pile of fur coats and still breathing hard from exertion. Tohma knew about this already. He told himself he didn't mind it, that it was just sex and didn't mean anything. He actually believed it too, right up until that moment. Seeing them together like this, half-naked and satiated on each other, it was different than just thinking it. It hurt.

"Yuki?" Shuichi said, kissing Yuki's temple.

"Hmm..." Yuki answered, still in a post-coital doze.

"Love you," Shuichi said simply.

Hearing this, one part of Tohma winced. Tohma knew Yuki was just barely tolerating Shuichi's constant starry-eyed declarations of love. True sentimentality on Shuichi's part was simply beyond the pale. Although Tohma had already predicted that their affair would only lead to heartache for the both of them, he didn't wish either of them ill and was pained to see the beginning of the end right before his eyes.

The other part of Tohma was doing a happy dance. Yuki was finally going to come to his senses, realize Shuichi wasn't the one he needed, and then he'd turn back to Tohma, the only person who truly understood him.

Yuki stretched, sat up, and looked back at Shuichi who was still lying on the floor. Tohma took a deep breath and held it, waiting for Yuki to dump the petite singer. But, Yuki's only reply to Shuichi's declaration of love was a simple, "I know."

Yuki fished a handkerchief from the inside pocket of his tuxedo jacket, which had been neatly hung on the, now, almost bare coat rack. Handing it to Shuichi, he said, "Here, clean yourself up before you stain one of the coats."

Tohma silently closed the door and stood there in shock, just staring at the swirl of the wood grain. Familiar arms wrapped around his neck from behind. "See something you shouldn't have?" his wife whispered in his ear.

"Eiri-san and Shindo..." Tohma whispered, gesturing toward the cloakroom door.

"Ah..." Mika said understandingly, "And what are you planning to do about it?"

"I'm not sure," Tohma replied meditatively.

"Come back to the party," Mika said pulling away from her husband. "They'll be out soon."

"I will, and Mika-san?" Tohma called to her before she could leave. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You're a terrible fool Seguchi Tohma, but I love you anyway," Mika said with a sad, knowing smile, then walked back into the living room.

Tohma crossed the foyer, started up the stairs, then sat down half-way up. He took his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and dialed a number from memory. "Takahashi-san, about that soundtrack deal..."


	2. Chapter 2: A Song

Chapter 2

Yuki--sprawled on the couch with his bare feet resting on the coffee table in front of him--was lazily flipping through channels. After watching a nature show featuring a zebra mating with a donkey for a few minutes, Yuki turned the TV off and looked to Shuichi for entertainment.

Yuki silently watched the pink haired singer for a moment, trying to puzzle out what he was up to. Shuichi was sitting on the floor between the couch and the coffee table alternately scribbling things on the little bits of paper that were spread across the table then balling up said bits and tossing them on the floor. This was all done with an intense look of concentration on his face. Yuki would almost say Shuichi was trying to write a song, but Bad Luck had just finished their new album and were on break before their tour. Shuichi never worked when he didn't have to, and often didn't work when he should. So, Yuki knew Shuichi couldn't possibly be working on a song.

"You are going to pick those up when you finish whatever it is you're doing," Yuki said, more of an order than a question.

"Uh huh," Shuichi agreed absently, chewing on the end of his pen and squinting at what he'd just written.

Surprised and intrigued that Shuichi didn't latch onto his oblique reference to his activities as an excuse to explain in excruciating detail, Yuki put his feet flat on the floor and leaned forward to see for himself what Shuichi was up to. What he saw were song lyrics. They were scribbled in bits and fragments with places erased, scratched out, and written over but still unmistakably song lyrics. "You're writing a song?" Yuki asked disbelievingly.

"Uh huh," Shuichi agreed, copying a fragment from one sheet to another sheet that had what looked like most of a song on it.

"I thought you already finished the new album," Yuki pointed out.

Shuichi finished scribbling down the last bit of the song, skimmed over it, then nodded to himself. Turning slightly to look up at Yuki, Shuichi, with a huge smile on his face, said, "It's for a movie soundtrack. K called about it last night. It's really short notice, but it's a big opportunity for Bad Luck. We're trying to get it done before we're suppose to go on tour but it's really hard because K couldn't get us a studio till noon the day before we leave. I've got to get the lyrics written now 'cause if we don't finish in time we'll have to cancel some shows and postpone the tour."

"Bad Luck songs have already been used in a couple movies this summer. What's different about this one?" Yuki asked curiously. He knew how much Shuichi loved touring. Shuichi hadn't let him out of his sight for more than a minute at a time in the two weeks since Shuichi's concert and Yuki's return from New York. It was as if Shuichi was afraid Yuki might disappear at any minute if he took his eyes off of him for even one second. Even with Shuichi's advanced case of clinginess, his offer to cancel the tour and stay with Yuki was still only reluctantly made.

"It's for a big budget American action movie and they said they might let Bad Luck do a cameo! It's going to be so cool, international exposure and an all expense paid trip to Hollywood!" Shuichi gushed.

"Very cool," Yuki humored the ecstatic singer, obviously not overly impressed. "Does this mean you'll be busy all day and I'll actually get some peace before I have to get back to work?" Yuki said half hopefully and half in dread. On one hand, Shuichi's constant presence over the past two weeks was exhausting. From the minute he woke in the morning till he fell asleep at night the hyperactive singer was in constant motion. Just watching TV together was a test of Yuki's patience. Shuichi couldn't sit still for two minutes without fidgeting. On the other hand, Yuki was afraid to be left entirely to his own devises with nothing in particular to do to keep his mind off things. A lot had happened in the recent months, and Yuki knew that without a ready distraction to hand he'd end up brooding about it. Yuki didn't want to brood. The past week and a half he'd been happy, not completely and totally 'not a cloud in the sky and all is right with the world' happy, but happier than he had been in a very long time. Thinking too much would surely ruin it.

"It's finished," Shuichi said completely ignoring Yuki's implication that he might want to be alone. Then, thinking it over a little more, he added, "Well nearly finished. It needs to be fixed up a little, but Hiro and Suguru will help with that when we go into the studio next Friday. It's finished for today. So what are we going to do this afternoon?"

"Let's see it then," Yuki said ignoring Shuichi's question about plans for the afternoon and holding his hand out for the lyric sheet.

"Uhmm..." Shuichi said nervously glancing back at his lyrics. "Remember this is just the rough draft. It'll be a lot better after we work on it some more," he reminded Yuki as he handed the lyrics over.

Yuki snorted in derision. "It doesn't matter how much polishing you do, your lyrics always suck," Yuki contradicted. Seeing Shuichi's crestfallen expression, to take some of the sting out of his criticism, Yuki added, "It's a good thing most people are too busy listening to your voice to even notice the lyrics."

"Yuki likes my voice," Shuichi said happily, cuddling against Yuki's leg.

"I take it back," Yuki said, reading Shuichi's lyrics. Before, Shuichi could take offence and start crying, Yuki further explained, "Your lyrics don't always suck."

"You like my song?" Shuichi asked almost disbelievingly. "You really like it?"

"I wouldn't go quite that far," Yuki said repressively. "But, it's not as bad as usual. With a few changes it might be almost passable." Picking up the well-chewed pen Shuichi had left on the coffee table, Yuki started crossing things out and writing in a word here and there. "Here," Yuki said, handing Shuichi back the page.

Shuichi took back the song and read it through. "You crossed out two whole verses, rearranged the chorus, and totally rewrote the English part!" Shuichi protested.

"It's better, isn't it?" Yuki said, lighting up a cigarette.

Reading the lyrics again, Shuichi grumbled, "Well yeah... I guess... But I worked so hard on the lines you crossed out. And what does the English you wrote mean?"

"Does it matter?" Yuki asked curiously.

"Of course it matters! What if it means something different from what I originally wrote does?" Shuichi said. "I'd be singing it with no idea what I was singing."

"And, what, pray tell, was that gibberish you wrote supposed to mean?" Yuki asked tauntingly.

Getting the impression that perhaps his English skills had went awry yet again, Shuichi decided to play it safe and first ask, "What did they say, exactly?"

"Roughly, 'It's furry on the table,'" Yuki told him translating the line into Japanese.

"Oh," Shuichi said, really not wanting to tell Yuki that he'd somehow confused the word for not being able to say no with a furry table. "What did you change it to?" Shuichi asked hesitantly.

"You're so unpredictable," Yuki gave the translation of the line he'd written.

"That works," Shuichi agreed, relieved he wouldn't have to tell Yuki exactly what word he'd screwed up so bad.

* * *

Later that night...

Yuki was startled awake by an arm smacking him in the face. Noting that Shuichi had stolen all the covers, again, Yuki grumble in irritation, "This is why I prefer sleeping alone."

Yuki turned over, intending to snatch the blankets back and make Shuichi move to the couch. As soon as he caught sight of Shuichi, he changed his mind.

Tears were streaming down the boy's face in his sleep. Shuichi was twisted in the blankets,lying on one side with an arm pinned beneath him, in what had to be an extremely uncomfortable position. He was also whimpering softly every so often--obviously still in the grips of a nightmare.

Yuki silently debated with himself about what to do. When he was having a nightmare, he didn't like being woken up. Waking up in the middle always made it worse, or so it seemed to Yuki. If his twisted subconsious hadn't finished whatever torment it set out to inflict, the nightmare just ended up praying on his mind for the rest of the day. But, if their positions were reversed, Shuichi wouldn't hesitate to wake Yuki--maybe it was different for him.

Coming up with a compromise, Yuki gently unwound the blankets from Shuichi's body, brushed the tears from his cheeks, and soothingly ran a hand through Shuichi's sweat dampened hair.

Shuichi promptly used his new found freedom to flop onto his back and squirm around a little to get properly situated. Then he sniffled twice, smacked a couple times, and relaxed into a boneless sprawl. A half smile appeared on his face, and he started snoring softly.

Seeing that his lover--now that he was arranged more comfortably--was once again sleeping peacefully, Yuki lay back down beside Shuichi and pulled the blankets over the both of them.

Never once waking from his dream, Shuichi cuddled close to Yuki and murmured Yuki's name in his sleep.

Problem solved and thinking that perhaps sharing a bed wasn't that bad after all, Yuki closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3: A Nightmare

Chapter 3  
  
An abandoned building... what was once probably a nice apartment was now all peeling wallpaper, puddles on the floor from a leaking roof, and moldering carpet. Why was he here? That's right, Sensei asked him here... but why? Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knew, but that didn't bear thinking about. Every time he started to brush the edge of the information, his mind would flinch away in fear. He knew why Sensei brought him here, but he didn't want to know.  
  
"Eiri," Kitazawa Sensei said, drawing his attention away from the broken window. "My beautiful Eiri," he said caressing Yuki's face--no, not Yuki's face, Eiri's.  
  
Eiri flinched away, shocked at his Sensei's forward behavior. The knowledge he'd previously denied was beginning to make itself known, like snakes uncoiling in a shadowed corner and readying to strike--still out of sight, but just enough movement to let one know there's a dangerous creature lurking in the dark. Something was very, very wrong.  
  
"Isn't this what you want Eiri-kun? For me to touch you? Taste you? Give you pleasure?" Sensei asked, going to his knees before Eiri and reaching for the fly of Eiri's pants.  
  
"Sensei... don't... I..." Eiri said nervously. And, then he knew, knew what was coming--and yet could do nothing. The part of him that was still Yuki was screaming, "Run! Get away, before it happens again!" but Eiri could do nothing but play his role. The play had been written long ago. It was too late to change the lines. "I did... I do, but not like this," Eiri tentatively protested, looking around at the dank and dreary apartment.  
  
Heavy footsteps sounded from out in the hall. Sensei stood from his kneeling position, shrugged, and said, "Too bad. I wanted to be your first. Third will just have to suffice."  
  
Two men--big ugly men--came in. One handed Sensei a ten dollar bill. Sensei motioned toward Eiri, and the deal was done. The men went to claim their purchase. Eiri tried to run. They caught him. He screamed and begged. They laughed and said there was no one to hear him.   
  
Eiri was trapped, pinned against a wall. Strange hands groping and pinching and tearing at his clothes. Tears ran down his face. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening. He had to escape. He couldn't get away from them. They were too big, too strong. "Don't think, don't look, don't notice what they're doing to you," Eiri told himself. "If I don't pay attention it doesn't count."  
  
The sun reflecting on the broken window, the curl of the peeling wallpaper pressing into his back. And, there was a gun. One of the men had a gun. Suddenly, it was in Eiri's hands. The men backed away, but it did them no good. Still half immersed in his self imposed trance, Eiri shot the two men down, calmly, as if he were at the firing range with Tohma. He shot them both directly through the heart, like they were paper targets instead of people.  
  
Eiri turned the gun on his Sensei, the one who betrayed him. "Eiri-kun, you don't want to do this," Kitazawa Sensei said backing away from the shaking boy with a gun.  
  
"You... you sold me," Eiri accused.  
  
"There were reasons, let me explain," Kitazawa pleaded. "You know I would never hurt you."  
  
"No!" Eiri shouted. "I don't know that. I don't know anything anymore." He whispered brokenly.   
  
Sensei took a step forward, hand held out for he gun. "Give me the gun Eiri. Give me the gun and everything will be alright."  
  
Inside, knowing what was to come, Yuki was screaming at his younger self, "Leave! Just go! Don't do this!" But, on the outside, Eiri could do nothing. There was still the final act of the play to get through. "Don't! Don't pretend like nothing's wrong!" Eiri yelled angrily.  
  
Sensei took another step forward. Eiri closed his eyes, confused and afraid, and somehow the gun went off. Eiri, opened his eyes to see a look of shock and disbelief cross his Sensei's face just before Kitazawa's lifeless body fell to the ground, his blood spreading across the floor. Eiri landed hard on his knees, clenching his eyes shut, trying desperately to block out the scene before him.  
  
The final act was over. The curtains close.  
  
Yuki opened his eyes to blue skies and the enormous violet eyes of his lover looking down at him. They were lying in the grass by the remains of a picnic. "You were crying and moaning in your sleep," Shuichi said as he wiped Yuki's tears away with one hand.  
  
"Why didn't you wake me?" Yuki asked.  
  
"You always say that it's better to let a nightmare run its course than to wake up in the middle and have it eat at you the rest of the day," Shuichi said in a sing-song manner, as if reciting something from memory.  
  
"That's never stopped you before. You never listen to me," Yuki pointed out.  
  
Shuichi shrugged. "Things were different before."  
  
"Different how?" Yuki asked suspiciously.  
  
"I've been thinking," Shuichi said sitting up beside Yuki. "I think I should start listening to you more."  
  
"Listening to me?" Yuki repeated incredulously.   
  
"Yeah, I realized that you're right about a lot of things. Like when you said I should leave you, I think you were right."  
  
"What?!" Yuki exclaimed, sitting up himself. "I don't know what goes through what little mind you have, but if this is some elaborate scheme to get me to admit my undying love you can just forget it now brat. You know I don't do that romantic crap."  
  
"No scheme, I'm leaving," Shuichi said, strangely calm. "You're never going to be the man I want you to be and I'm tired of waiting." As Shuichi was saying this, a thick fog was forming out of the clear blue day, blocking out the sun and turning everything gray. "Don't try to stop me, it's already too late. I don't want you anymore," Shuichi said coldly. Then he got up and walked into the thick fog surrounding their picnic site.  
  
"Wait!" Yuki shouted at the singer's retreating back. As Shuichi disappeared in the fog, Yuki jumped up to follow, saying, "You can't just walk away from me!"  
  
Yuki walked further into the fog, unable to see two feet in front of his face. The ground suddenly changed from green grass to concrete and mildewed carpet. The mist cleared to reveal that same ugly apartment.  
  
This time, instead of participating, Yuki was merely an observer. He watched his former Sensei come on to a younger version of himself. He saw the two men come in and make their deal with Kitazawa. As stomach churning as it was to see he couldn't look away as they cornered Eiri like a scared rabbit.  
  
Abruptly Kitazawa broke away from the tableau and walked over to speak with Yuki. "Exciting isn't it?" he asked conversationally.  
  
"Not particularly," Yuki calmly answered, all of his masks firmly in place. "I already know how it ends."  
  
"Do you? Are you sure you know?" Kitazawa asked mockingly, looking back to young Eiri with the men.  
  
Yuki looked back to the scene in front of him. Instead of it all happening in the same familiar pattern, this time Eiri didn't grab the gun. This time his pants were ripped off as they wrestled him to the floor.  
  
Yuki turned from the scene and facing Kitazawa hissed, "Stop it. That's not what happened."  
  
"But it could have," Kitazawa replied. "You wanted it this way."  
  
"No, I never wanted that," Yuki said fervently. "Never," he reiterated, pointedly not looking and trying his best to ignore the sounds of his younger self's torment.  
  
Kitazawa sighed in disappointment. "I guess this means that all those times you said you'd do anything to bring me back you were lying. I'm disappointed, though not surprised. I miss Eiri. He was a whiney little bastard, but at least he was honest." Looking around Yuki at the broken sixteen-year-old Yuki could hear crying behind him, Kitazawa added, "Looks like it's my turn, unless you want to go first, Yuki? Yuki, are you paying attention to me? Do you want your turn or not?"  
  
The old apartment faded out and was replaced by another apartment, this one sleek and modern. Yuki was sitting on the couch with Shuichi and Shuichi was holding out a play station controller saying, "It's your turn Yuki."  
  
"Uhmm..." Yuki paused for a second to get his bearings, figuring that he must have fallen asleep on the couch while Shuichi played. "I don't really feel like playing."  
  
"But Yukiii! You said that if I beat you at the game you'd take me out. How can I beat you if you don't play?" Shuichi protested.  
  
"I said that?" Yuki asked, thinking that it didn't sound like something he'd say.  
  
"You did," Shuichi replied. "How can you not remember? That was only like two minutes ago."  
  
Yuki sat there looking at Shuichi for a second, ran a hand through his hair and finally said, "Go get your coat."  
  
Shuichi ran to get his coat and the two of them left the apartment. Shuichi was happily chattering at his side while Yuki tried to puzzle out what was going on. He couldn't quite place what, but something just wasn't right.  
  
"Yuki, are you paying attention?" Shuichi asked, waving a hand in front of Yuki's face.  
  
"Huh?" Yuki said distractedly.  
  
"Our anniversary. It's coming up. What are we going to do to celebrate? Five years is a pretty big deal," Shuichi explained.  
  
"Five years..." Yuki said, completely confused. It had only been months, hadn't it?  
  
Before Shuichi could answer, a car--just like the one Yuki had wrecked not too long ago--came careening around the corner. Shuichi, for no apparent reason, jumped in front of the car, hands held out in front of him, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Stop!"  
  
Yuki was no longer on the street watching it happen. He was behind the wheel of the car, slamming on brakes as fast as he could, but not fast enough to keep from hitting his lover. He watched in horror as the small man, the one whom he was just talking to, flew over his hood and into his windshield.   
  
Paramedics arrived, grabbed Shuichi's body and tossed it into the back of their van, like he was a sack of potatoes rather than a person, and sped away in an instant. Cops arrived to take Yuki in for questioning. Yuki numbly got out of the car--which was left, still running, on the street--and followed the officers into an adjacent building. He stepped through the doorway and into an abandoned New York apartment.  
  
"Welcome back Yuki," Kitazawa said cheerfully. Then after an affected pause, as if he were seriously contemplating something, he added, "Although that's not technically true. I mean, you never really leave here, do you?"   
  
"I already did this once tonight, why am I here again?" Yuki asked irritably, having just realized that he was still dreaming.   
  
"How am I supposed to know? It's your dream," Kitazawa replied. "Anyway, since you're here are you going to take your turn?" he asked conversationally.  
  
"I think I'll pass," Yuki said, gritting his teeth at the crying and pain filled moans coming from behind him.  
  
"At least see what you're missing before you turn it down," Kitazawa insisted as he grabbed Yuki's shoulder and forcibly turned him around.  
  
Yuki's eyes widened in shock. It wasn't his younger self lying there. It was Shuichi, his sweet, innocent, Shuichi. Yuki knew it was a dream, but that didn't matter. The gun was in his hand. The two men were dead on the ground and Yuki was cradling Shuichi's bruised and broken body in his lap. "Yuki?" Shuichi rasped out, reaching up to touch Yuki's face.  
  
"Coming love," Kitazawa answered Shuichi brightly, as he started to undo his belt.  
  
"Stay away from him," Yuki ordered.  
  
"But, he called me," Kitazawa protested.  
  
"You're not touching him," Yuki said threateningly.  
  
"How are you going to stop me?" Kitazawa asked tauntingly.  
  
"Same way I did last time," Yuki answered. Then, without a moment's hesitation he raised the gun and fired twice. A body thudded to the ground.  
  
A laugh sounded next to Yuki. Kitazawa was kneeling next to Yuki, laughing his head off. "I shot you," Yuki said.  
  
"Always so foolish," Kitazawa answered, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes and pointedly looked down at Shuichi. "You couldn't have shot me, I'm long dead and gone. It must have been someone else." Yuki followed Kitazawa's gaze to the two bullet holes in Shuichi's chest. "What is that old saying? Something about always hurting the one you love? And, Eiri-kun was always an overachiever..." Kitazawa observed with a smirk then faded from sight.  
  
"No," Yuki said. "He's not dead. It's just a dream... isn't real... it's a dream... it isn't real..." he chanted to himself over and over like a prayer, yet despite that knowledge he couldn't stop himself from gathering the still form of his lover close to his heart nor keep the tears from coming.  
  
Then warm hands, the scent of kiwi shampoo, and really bad cotton mouth. And the ice was gone, like it'd never been, although the feel of it still lingered somewhere in the recesses of his memory.  
  
Amber eyes opened in the steely gray light just before dawn. He was Yuki Eiri, successful author. He was lying twisted in silk sheets in his very own bed in his very own ultra-modern apartment. The hands frantically petting his back and the high pitched voice repeating his name belonged to his lover, Shindo Shuichi a hyperactive pop star who also happened to be irresistibly adorable... some of the time.  
  
Pushing his worried lover off his back, Yuki turned over and sat up in bed. After kicking free of the tangled sheets, he swung his silk pajama clad legs from beneath the covers and off the side of the bed. Momentarily distracted by his lover's sudden movement, Shuichi fell silent.  
  
Yuki snagged a half empty bottle of spring water off the nightstand and sat up on his side of the bed, taking in deep breaths of the crisp morning air, sipping lukewarm water, and curling his toes in the soft area rug Shuichi had insisted on when the weather had turned cold--an insistence which Yuki was grateful for even if he'd never admit it out loud. He couldn't remember what he'd dreamt only that it was bad... perhaps even the worst nightmare ever in a long career of truly horrible nightmares. Catching his own haunted expression in the dresser mirror, Yuki snorted in self-derision. To get so worked up over a dream, a dream he couldn't even remember, was juvenile--or so he told himself.  
  
Taking in Yuki's dejected posture and pain filled expression--Shuichi was for once at a loss for words. He settled himself behind Yuki, wrapped thin arms around Yuki's shoulders, and cuddled into his lover's bare back offering what comfort he could.   
  
Yuki tensed for a moment, hating for anyone to see his weaknesses this way. Then, giving in to the inevitable, he let himself relax into the smaller man's embrace.  
  
They sat there, Shuichi silently holding Yuki and Yuki letting him in that pre-dawn moment--seemingly outside of time. Then something shifted, some tiny thing happened to break the stillness, the sun moved enough to cast another shadow, a bird started singing, a leaf fell, some itty-bitty inconsequential thing which made time flow again.  
  
Shuichi opened his mouth to say something. Yuki, spotting Shuichi's movement in the mirror, beat him to it. "Don't," Yuki ordered.  
  
"Don't what?" Shuichi demanded indignantly. "I wasn't doing anything," he insisted as he shifted to wrap one leg around Yuki's waist and tightened his grip on his lover's shoulders.  
  
"Don't ask if I want to tell you about it. I don't remember and even if I did I wouldn't want to talk about it," Yuki said acerbically. "Dream analysis is the province of new age morons and hack therapists."   
  
Shuichi sniffed haughtily and declared, nose in the air, "I wasn't going to ask that. I was going to say the same thing you always say to me."  
  
Yuki's only reply was an arched eyebrow.  
  
"I was going to tell you to go back to sleep," Shuichi explained. Realizing that his lover, although obviously still a bit out of sorts, was starting to get back to his usual grumpy self--a way to distract Yuki from the dark thoughts currently plaguing him occurred to Shuichi. Giving Yuki his best lecherous look in the mirror, a look which actually looked more like a two-year-old begging for candy, Shuichi went on to say, "Since we're both already awake, we could do something else... if you want?"  
  
Yuki glanced through the window at the just barely risen sun and said, "It's too early, I'd rather sleep."  
  
"Yukiii..." Shuichi whined, pouting just a little bit.  
  
Before Shuichi could work himself up to a full on Yuki-doesn't-want-me crying jag, Yuki half turned toward Shuichi, took the singer's chin in one hand, and kissed his protruding lip. "Later," Yuki said. "Now go to sleep."  
  
Ecstatic to not receive the usual flat out rejection, Shuichi nodded happily and loosened his grip enough to let Yuki lie down on the bed again. He didn't completely let go of Yuki--Shuichi never let his lover out of his grasp unless forced to--but Yuki didn't really mind. As long as Shuichi wasn't clinging so tight he couldn't breath, Yuki didn't object to having the slight singer sprawled across his back--he actually found it kind of comforting.  
  
Yuki shifted around a bit till he was once again situated comfortably on his stomach. Shuichi cuddled as close as humanly possible, kissed Yuki's shoulder, and pulled the discarded blankets over both of them.  
  
Yuki lay there, staring at himself in the mirror, comfortable, relaxed, nightmare dispelled, and yet oddly still unable to fall asleep. Yuki listened to Shuichi breathing, already his breath had slowed to the rhythm of sleep but sleep still eluded Yuki. Suddenly, Yuki felt an overwhelming compulsion to do something he never thought he'd do.   
  
He resisted. No way was ever going to do anything so foolish and stupid.  
  
Then Shuichi murmured something incoherent in his sleep, and cuddled even closer to Yuki, pressing his cold nose to the back of Yuki's neck. Even in his sleep, all the singer wanted was to be close to 'his Yuki.'  
  
Yuki sighed in resignation. Grasping the arm Shuichi'd thrown around his waist, Yuki gave him a little shake. "Don' wanna move," Shuichi complained sleepily.  
  
"No one's asking you to move, brat," Yuki replied. "I just wanted to tell you something."  
  
"Tell me something?" Shuichi asked curiously, fully awakened by Yuki's strange behavior.  
  
"Yeah... There's something important you should know so listen carefully, no interruptions, I'm only going to say this once. Got it?"   
  
"Uh huh," Shuichi agreed, nodding against Yuki's shoulder.  
  
Yuki closed his eyes tightly, he didn't think he could do it if he saw Shuichi's expectant eyes. He grasped Shuichi's hand, opened his mouth, and nothing came out.  
  
Shuichi laced his fingers between Yuki's, kissed the nearest patch of bare skin, and offered encouragingly, "You know you can tell me anything. I'll always love you, no matter what."  
  
Yuki's eyes flew open, and catching Shuichi's gaze in the mirror he gave his young lover the glare of death. "What was it I just said about interruptions?" he asked threateningly.  
  
"Sorry... I won't say another word," Shuichi promised.   
  
Yuki took another deep breath, paused for a minute to gather his thoughts and ended up pausing for a minute too long. Shuichi was already squirming in impatience, the strain of keeping quiet apparent on his face. Yuki took one look at his lover and gave up. Yuki let go of Shuichi's hand, and pushed the singer halfway off his back. "Never-mind," Yuki said, "I'll tell you some other time."  
  
"Yuki! You can't do that! You have to tell me," Shuichi insisted.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because... uhmm... because you just have to. You can't just tell someone you're going to tell him something important then not tell him!"  
  
"I'll tell you when I figure out the right words," Yuki said, shrugging off Shuichi's incoherent objections.  
  
"You don't need right words. Just blurt it out," Shuichi begged, the suspense killing him.  
  
"Just blurt it out?" Yuki repeated incredulously, sitting up and unceremoniously dumping Shuichi on the other side of the bed in the process. "You don't even know what I was going to tell you and you want me to blurt it out? You're such a moron."  
  
"Am not," Shuichi insisted, sitting up to face Yuki.  
  
"Are too."  
  
"Am not," Shuichi continued the argument, now nose to nose with Yuki.  
  
Suddenly realizing the childishness of his position, Yuki fell back against the headboard and crossed his arms across his chest. "Fine," Yuki agreed. "You're not a moron. I am, for wanting to do the romantic thing for once and find the right words to say I love you. I should have known better than to say anything in the first place."  
  
"Yuki loves me," Shuichi said wonderingly to himself. "I thought... but I didn't think you'd... You said you love me!" Shuichi exclaimed launching himself at Yuki. Sitting in Yuki's lap with his arms wrapped tightly around Yuki's neck, Shuichi babbled ecstatically, "I love you Yuki. I love you so much. And, I kind of thought you might love me too, or at least like me a lot, but I wasn't really sure so I worried that when you told me to go away you might really mean it but then you'd let me come back and I'd think that you probably really did love me and just didn't know how to show it, but now you said you love me and--"  
  
Yuki cut Shuichi off with a kiss. "Quiet brat," Yuki whispered against Shuichi's lips.  
  
"Mmm... Yuki say it again," Shuichi pleaded.  
  
"No," Yuki refused Shuichi's plea as he nibbled Shuichi's ear and reconsidered Shuichi's earlier proposition.  
  
"Please, Yuki, say it again," Shuichi asked, never one to give up easily.  
  
"Eiri."  
  
"Huh?" Shuichi said, confused and distracted by his lover's answer.  
  
"My name is Eiri," Yuki clarified as he moved on to Shuichi's neck.  
  
"Oh," Shuichi said not understanding. "Oh," Shuichi said a bit louder, realizing that it was a peace offering. Yuki wasn't ready to say the L-word as often as Shuichi needed to hear it but he could gift him with permission to use a name no one outside his immediate family, not even his beloved brother-in-law, was allowed to use, at least not without an honorific. "Oh," Shuichi said one last time, this time more of a moan than a comment as Yuki's mouth wandered from a newly created hickey downwards. 


	4. Chapter 4: Several Discussions

Chapter 4

Yuki and Shuichi managed to pry themselves from bed a little after noon. Ravenous from the morning's exertion, Yuki made pancakes while Shuichi showered.

Yuki, still clad in PJ bottoms and a robe held the morning newspaper in one hand and a fork in the other. He was steadily eating his way through a pre-cut and maple syrup drenched pile of pancakes without once looking up from what he was reading. Shuichi, fully dressed in cargo pants and a sweat shirt but still toweling his hair dry, sat in the chair opposite Yuki and started covering his pancakes in the orange marmalade Yuki'd already set out for him.

"Yu-Eiri, what are you planning to do today?" Shuichi asked.

"Writing," Yuki answered, not taking his eyes off the newspaper.

"But you just finished a book," Shuichi protested.

"Three weeks ago. I should have already started the next one," he said, still reading.

"Three weeks isn't that long a break," Shuichi pointed out.

"You only had a two week break and are going into the studio today," Yuki countered.

"But, Yu-Eiri, that's different," Shuichi insisted.

"Because you don't have a bleeding ulcer or because you didn't just nearly kill yourself?" Yuki asked, finally putting down the paper and looking at Shuichi.

"Both... neither... I don't know. Yu-Eiri, I just worry about you. You always work too hard and don't take care of yourself," Shuichi replied.

"Idiot," Yuki said affectionately, "I'm fine, I have to get back to work sometime. You're going to be gone all afternoon so I have to take advantage of the peace and quiet."

"If you say so," Shuichi said reluctantly. "I'm not going to be home for dinner, promise you'll take a break and eat something."

"Promise," Yuki agreed rolling his eyes at Shuichi's mother hen tendencies. "And, brat, just call me Yuki."

"But this morning you said--" Shuichi began to protest.

"I know what I said this morning, and you can call me anything you like." Yuki paused a second, then amended his statement to add, "As long as it doesn't involve a -chan. If I'd realized how hard it'd be for you to change I wouldn't have made the offer. I'd hate for you to strain yourself."

"Yu-Eiri," Shuichi began.

Yuki quirked one eyebrow.

"Eiri," Shuichi corrected himself, "that's mean. You make it sound like I'm stupid or something just 'cause it's taking me a little while to get used to calling you a different name."

"If the shoe fits..." Yuki replied with an unconcerned shrug.

Shuichi glanced over at the microwave clock and gasped, "I was supposed to be at the studio ten minutes ago!" Shuichi pecked Yuki on one side of his mouth, grabbed his favorite orange parka, and ran out the door shouting back, "Don't wait up, I'll be home late."

Yuki cleared the breakfast dishes off the counter, left them in the sink for Shuichi to take care of later, and retreated to his office to begin work on his next book.

* * *

"La li ho!" Shuichi called out cheerily as he bounded into the studio, only fifteen minutes late.

"Good holiday," Hiro observed more than asked.

"The best!" Shuichi agreed, nodding enthusiastically as he took off his parka. "I spent the whole two weeks with Yu-Eiri, and he wasn't mean once! Not really mean, anyway," Shuichi added his smile dimming just a tad at the thought of some of the snide comments Yuki made during their vacation.

"I guess that means you didn't have time to work on lyrics," Suguru said sourly, distinctly unenthused by Shuichi's usual habit of rampant unprofessionalism.

Shuichi brightened back up and pulled a folded piece of paper from his back pocket. "Yes, I did. Here it is!" he said waving the paper triumphantly, "Or most of it anyway. I had some more verses, but they weren't very good, which is why they're crossed out, and I was going to come up with something better, but I kinda forgot," Shuichi babbled as Hiro and Suguru looked over the much revised and scribbled on piece of paper.

"This is good," Hiro said, surprised. Hiro and Suguru didn't agree with Yuki's usual assessment of Shuichi's lyric writing abilities. They thought Shuichi tended to do a pretty decent job on the final product. However, getting him started was usually a challenge and his first attempts were almost always total drivel.

"Really good," Suguru seconded Hiro's assessment. "It might turn out to be our best song yet."

"You don't have to sound so surprised," Shuichi grumbled. Then quickly getting over it he added, "It still needs another verse or two."

"No, it's perfect," Hiro contradicted. "Fujisaki and I have been working on a guitar solo arrangement that would go perfectly with this."

"The chorus is great. With a fantastic hook like that, we don't need a lot of verses," Suguru added enthusiastically.

The perpetually worried Sakano walked into the studio with, what else, a worried expression on his face. "Shuichi, you're finally here," Sakano said, partially relieved.

"He was only fifteen minutes late, for him that's practically early," Hiro said in Shuichi's defense.

"Shindo-san completed the lyrics over the holiday," Suguru added soothingly. "And the music never takes us very long to work out, we already have a few ideas. The track should be finished tonight."

"Tonight," Sakano repeated in a tone of wonderment, tears streaming down his face. "The tour starts tomorrow, and the song will be finished tonight." Ebullient in his relief Sakano impulsively embrace Suguru, who just stood there looking extremely uncomfortable. "I must tell Seguchi-san the good news."

* * *

Six hours later, the song was mostly done. Suguru was mixing the final product, while Hiro and Shuichi sprawled on the couch. Their bit done, they were only hanging around as a formality, so they could give Suguru's work final approval. Musical genius that he was, Shuichi and Hiro's approval of Suguru's arrangement was never really a question, but they liked to go through the motions anyway--it was the principle of the thing.

"How was your visit to Ayaka-chan?" Shuichi asked.

"Fantastic," Hiro said, sappy smile on his face. Then leaning toward Shuichi, he whispered, "I asked her to marry me."

"What!?" Shuichi exclaimed in shock. He knew Hiro and Ayaka were serious, but he had no idea how serious.

Suguru looked up from what he was doing just as Hiro clamped a hand over Shuichi's mouth. Hiro smiled and waved with his free hand. Suguru just shrugged and went back to what he was doing.

"Keep it down," Hiro hissed to his best friend. "We don't want the press to know just yet."

"Did she say yes? She said yes, didn't she? Of course she said yes, you're Hiro, she couldn't not say yes," Shuichi babbled excitedly, but in a near whisper.

"She said yes," Hiro agreed, sappy smile back in place.

"Congratulations!" Shuichi squealed as he launched himself at his best friend for a congratulatory hug. "I know you and Ayaka are going to be so happy together," Shuichi said, returning to a whisper after Suguru shot them another curious glance.

"Thank you," Hiro said, "But, don't tell anyone, not even Yuki."

"Why not?" Shuichi asked plaintively. "Yu-Eiri doesn't talk to the press, and I tell him everything."

"Yuki does talk to his family every once in a while and they talk to Ayaka's family and she hasn't told them yet. They're not exactly happy that she's dating a musician. She wanted a chance to talk them around before we tell everyone about the engagement."

"Oh," Shuichi said, face screwed up in concentration as he tried to work out what possible objection any parent could have to Hiro.

The pair fell silent for a second, pondering Hiro's good fortune. Then Hiro, changing the subject, broke the silence with a question, "Uh, Shu, what's with all the Yu-Eiri's? You've been calling him that all afternoon."

"I can't believe I didn't already tell you!" Shuichi said, clasping his hand and bouncing up and down on the couch, too excited to sit still. "Yuki told me he loved me and said I could call him Eiri if I wanted!"

"Yuki actually said the words 'I love you.'?" Hiro asked incredulously. Everyone suspected the author loved Shuichi, but no one thought he'd ever actually say it out loud.

"Well, he actually said he was going to tell me he loved me but I kept interrupting so he changed his mind," Shuichi admitted, "but it's the same thing."

"Ah," Hiro said, nodding in understanding. That sounded like Yuki. "And is Yu-Eiri some new nickname? Term of endearment?" Hiro asked teasingly.

"Not you too," Shuichi groaned. "Yu-Eiri, Eiri, already made fun of me about it this morning. I'm trying. I'll get use to saying Eiri eventually."

"Why?" Hiro asked reasonably.

"Huh?" Shuichi returned, scratching his head in confusion.

"Why start calling him Eiri after all this time?" Hiro clarified.

"Because... because that's what his family calls him, and... and he said I could," Shuichi answered, clearly fishing around for a reason he didn't have.

"But, from what you've told me, he doesn't really get along with his family, mostly because they want him to be something he's not. It seems to me that the reason you can't switch from Yuki to Eiri, is because Yuki's who he is," Hiro argued.

"Hmm," Shuichi said, nodding understandingly as if considering what Hiro had to say. Then he said, "I don't get it."

"Okay, I'll put it another way," Hiro said. "Eiri is the responsible eldest son who was going to marry Ayaka and take over the temple one day. Yuki is a successful romance novelist living with a pop star."

"So Yuki's really Yuki and I should just call him that," Shuichi said, light finally dawning. "Thank you Hiro, calling him Eiri was really hard."

Just then, an incensed K followed by a frantic Sakano came into the studio. "Please, K-san, try to understand. I'm sure Seguchi-san is only doing what he feels is in Bad Luck's best interests," Sakano was pleading.

"Ha," K contradicted. "I know what is best for my band and canceling the tour isn't it. I don't care what twisted ulterior motive he has, I won't let Tohma do it."

"Cancel the tour?" Hiro asked, concerned.

"Seguchi-san didn't cancel the tour, he merely postponed it indefinitely--to allow you plenty of time to work on the movie soundtrack," Sakano said reassuringly.

"But we're almost done," Shuichi said confused.

"I informed Seguchi-san that the first song will be done tonight. He thinks you should take your time and produce several choices to present to the music director when the time comes," Sakano explained. "This is such a big step for Bad Luck's international career, Seguchi-san wants to make sure we put our best foot forward."

Suguru, who'd only been half paying attention as he put the final touches on their composition, finally joined the conversation. "You can tell my cousin, 'Thank you for the generous offer, but we don't need more time,' This song is the only one the director needs to hear."

"Pack your bags, we'll be leaving in a week," K ordered. "Tohma can cancel all the appearances he wants, I will arrange bigger, better, more stupendous gigs," K declared laughing maniacally.

"Uh, Mr. K, perhaps it'd be better if we don't piss off Seguchi Tohma. He does own the record company, after all," Hiro pointed out.

"Then I will reason with him first," K said pulling out his side arm. With his gun aimed in the air, K whirled around and exited the studio.

* * *

"Mizuki-san," Tohma said, smiling a pleasant business-like smile and giving a slight nod to the woman who'd just entered his office. "I appreciate your coming to see me on such short notice."

"Your secretary said the matter was urgent Seguchi-san," Mizuki replied with the same pleasant business-like smile plastered on her face. "I am curious to know why you would need to see me. I'm a book agent with no connections to the music industry."

"Actually, Mizuki-san, I wanted to speak with you about a personal matter," Tohma explained motioning Mizuki toward the chair in front of his desk. "Can I offer you some refreshment? Tea? Coffee?"

"No, thank you," Mizuki said as she sat down. "Personal matter?" she asked.

"Yuki Eiri."

"He is my client. What is it exactly you want to discuss about him?" Mizuki said primly, easily conveying where her first loyalty lay by the tone of her voice.

Cutting right to the chase, Tohma explained, "You are aware that Eiri-san has been under a great deal of stress of late?"

"I sent flowers when he was hospitalized with an ulcer," Mizuki acknowledged.

"I see," Tohma said, his expression and tone of voice implying that although he did in fact see, Mizuki was obviously clueless. "I won't reveal any details because that would be a violation of Eiri-san's confidence, but I will say that the ulcer was merely the tip of the iceberg." Here Tohma held up one hand to ward off Mizuki's concerned interruption. "Eiri is improving and shall soon be as well as ever," Tohma continued reassuringly. "However, at this juncture, I believe a book tour would be detrimental to his health. The demands of travel and being separated from friends and family for long periods is stressful for everyone, no matter what the circumstances. Eiri is simply too fragile at this point for his recovery to be risked in such a manner."

"I understand your concerns," Mizuki began, "but my first concern is Yuki-san." Now it was Mizuki's turn to hold up a hand to stall Tohma's protests. "I won't push him to do something he doesn't feel ready to do, but you must understand that canceling the tour at this juncture would be detrimental to Yuki's career. I will look into promotional media appearances and interviews as possible alternatives to a standard book tour and present my findings to Yuki for his consideration. The final say in the matter rests with him. If Yuki-san is prepared to tour, he will tour," Mizuki said, her smile never slipping, but in a tone carrying the weight of finality.

Tohma, not one to give up easily when it came to his brother-in-law's well being, was about to further his argument when he was rudely interrupted by Mr. K bursting into his office and aiming a rather large hand gun directly between his eyes. "You're not canceling Bad Luck's tour," K told Tohma.

"The tour is not cancelled, merely indefinitely postponed to give Bad Luck's members time for some rest and relaxation. It would be a shame if a new shining talent like theirs was allowed to burn out before its time due to stress and over work," Tohma explained reasonably, seemingly not at all worried by the gun pointed at his face.

K tossed his head back for a loud braying laugh which cut off abruptly before he said, "Don't you actually mean that as long as Yuki wants the brat he's going to have him and Bad Luck's tour is cancelled until Yuki comes to his senses and dumps Shuichi?"

"Perhaps," Tohma acknowledge with a strained smile.

"Uhmm..." Mizuki interrupted nervously. Unlike most of NG Records, she wasn't used to K's bizarre behavior. She'd only met him once before and that was a very brief introduction. "If that's the case, and Bad Luck's tour really is being cancelled for Yuki-san's sake, go ahead and uncancel it. Yuki isn't going to be here himself. The new book goes on the shelves next week and he has to promote it."

"Is that so?" K asked sounding pleased, and finally lowering his gun.

"There's a slim possibility that he's going to back out, but most likely he will be touring Japan promoting his book a week from now," Mizuki explained. "A very slim possibility," she added to reinforce for Tohma her own position on the matter.

"Ah, Mizuki-chan, you don't mind if I call you Mizuki-chan?" K said giving her his most winning smile.

"Not at all," Mizuki agreed quickly--he still hadn't put away the magnum.

"Mizuki-chan, I have an idea."

"An idea?" she asked.

"Joint tour," K said, finally holstering his weapon. "Is it not perfect?"

Mizuki thought about it for a second, "I can see the benefits... shared travel and lodging fees, overlapping fan bases..."

"Shu-chan not crying for hours missing his Yuki..." K continued.

"Someone else to handle Yuki-san when he's in one of his moods..." Mizuki added getting into the spirit of things.

"Come Mizuki-chan, let us discuss the details in-depth over lunch," K said, offering Mizuki his arm.

"An excellent idea K-san," Mizuki agreed taking his arm. "Do you like Italian? There's an excellent little restaurant that just opened not too far from here."

Mizuki and K exited the office, already coordinating a travel plan. Tohma sat at his desk staring into space and wondering when exactly had the lunatics taken over his life. Ryuichi had been around since the beginning and he did have a way of absentmindedly messing up plans, but Ryuichi was just a little eccentric and easy enough to manage once you got used to dealing with a pink bunny instead of a person. Somehow, since Bad Luck arrived, it seemed that nothing ended up going exactly the way Tohma wanted it--which was unusual for him.

* * *

"Yuki! I'm home!" Shuichi shouted as he kicked his shoes off and tossed his coat in the general vicinity of the coat rack. As soon as he was bare foot and in shirtsleeves, he pelted into Yuki's office and jumped into the author's lap. "Miss me?" Shuichi asked snuggling against his lover.

"No," Yuki said, as he pushed Shuichi off his lap.

"Yukiii!" Shuichi whined from his usual chair beside Yuki.

"You're back early," Yuki observed.

"We already finished the song, and it's really great!" Shuichi said excitedly, bouncing in place just a little.

"I guess that means the tour is still on for tomorrow," Yuki replied expressionlessly. "You should go pack and let me finish this chapter."

"Uh, I'm not sure what we're doing. Seguchi-san said the tour was cancelled but K said he wouldn't let it be cancelled. Last I know about it K was going up to threaten Seguchi. I don't know if we're going on tour or not, but I don't think we're leaving tomorrow," Shuichi explained.

"Too bad," Yuki commented as he slowly typed another sentence in his manuscript.

Shuichi shrugged, and said, "I don't know. I mean, I love being on stage but I hate leaving. Maybe it's good that we won't have to be apart."

"I wouldn't count on it," Yuki said dryly. "Mizuki has me scheduled for a book tour starting a week from tomorrow."

"You're not going to be here? I'll be stuck here all by myself?" Shuichi asked, getting extremely worried.

"Uh huh."

"Waah! K's gotta get the tour uncanceled, he's just got to!" Shuichi said, sniffling just a bit.


	5. Chapter 5: A Tour

Chapter 5

A week later...

Yuki, carrying his laptop, was staring at the tour bus in obvious disgust. "Tell me again, why can't we take the train like we normally do?" he said to the yawning woman beside him.

"There's no sense in purchasing train tickets when there's a perfectly good method of transportation already provided," Mizuki said. Then eyeing the bus a bit askance herself she added, "Mr. K promised that it was a state of the art, luxury, tour bus."

"It's a bus, not an entertainment system," Yuki pointed out.

"'State of the art' made me wonder as well," Mizuki admitted.

"It means we have playstation," Hiro interjected.

"And satellite TV," Suguru added, pointing at the mini-dish mounted on the back of the bus.

"But the reception sucks," Shuichi, who'd just arrived, said from behind the huge mound of grocery bags he was carrying.

"I thought you said you were going to get 'a few last minute things.' What's all that stuff?" Yuki asked.

Suguru, Hiro, and Shuichi, all answered together, "Road snacks," as they loaded the groceries Shuichi brought on to the bus,

"K doesn't allow pit stops," Shuichi explained.

"Unscheduled stops significantly increase the probability of unforeseen delays and security risks," Suguru recited from memory.

"Oh God," Yuki said shuttering in dread. Two months, on a bus, with Shuichi, his nutcase manager, and a playstation... if Mizuki wasn't coming along to share the misery, she'd be so fired, even if she was the best agent in Japan.

* * *

Twenty miles outside of Tokyo…

K was cleaning something that probably had fully automatic somewhere in its name--his cleaning supplies and weapon parts spread out on the miniature dinette at the back of the bus. Mizuki and Suguru were sitting on the couch along the left side of the bus, deeply immersed in the travel chess set which was sitting on the seat between them. Hiro and Shuichi were sprawled on the carpeted floor, playing the latest in violent racing games. And, Yuki who was sitting on the right hand couch with his laptop resting on a fold down snack tray, was busily clicking away at his new book, wincing every so often when Hiro or Shuichi caused a particularly loud video explosion.

Eight days later…

K was upfront, discussing defensive and offensive driving in a crisis situation with their ex-military bus driver. Suguru was reading a book on music theory in the digital world. Mizuki was slowly making her way through a stack of manuscripts. Hiro was on his cell phone with Ayaka. Yuki was still writing. And, Shuichi was sleeping peacefully next to Yuki.

Touring still sucked, it always did in Yuki's opinion. He didn't really travel well and dealing with crowds of people, well, the less said the better. But, surprisingly enough, it wasn't the hellish experience Yuki was expecting. Shuichi and the rest of Bad Luck gave one-hundred and ten percent on stage every night, partied till the wee hours of the morning, then slept fitfully on lumpy hotel bed for the few remaining hours before it was time to climb back on the bus. All three spent the vast majority of the travel time napping.

Three weeks into the tour…

K gathered everyone together beside the bus which was parked in front of a hotel. "Our second show in Osaka has been cancelled due to a fire at Club 419," K announced.

The tired group before him just stood there.

"And since Yuki-san has been banned from Osaka bookstores, we're all getting a short break before going on to our next destination," K continued.

"You're not rescheduling us somewhere else?" Shuichi asked surprised.

"Shh, don't give him any ideas," Hiro hissed to Shuichi, clasping a hand over his best friend's mouth.

"Of course he isn't," Suguru put in. "On such short notice it'd be almost impossible to formulate a thorough security plan for an unknown locale."

"Now that we have that cleared up, can we check into the hotel?" Yuki said not really caring one way or the other, he was getting a break no matter what K decided.

K stepped aside so that the exhausted group could trail into the hotel lobby.

"Mizuki-san," Suguru said quietly to his new friend and ally as the only other sane person on the bus--Hiro was once relatively normal but lately he'd developed a tendency to space out with a stupid grin on his face at odd moments, "What did Mr. K mean when he said, 'banned from Osaka bookstores'?"

"Yuki-san somehow managed to mortally offend the president of the Osaka bookseller's association on his second book tour. I'm not sure what he did exactly, but I decided I'd better accompany him in future to prevent it from happening again," Mizuki explained, glancing at Yuki to make sure he was too far away to overhear.

"You didn't always accompany him on tour?" Suguru asked.

"Usually authors travel alone and book store reps just meet them at the train station to pick them up and drive them around. There aren't nearly as many complicated arrangements to be made for a book signing as there are for a concert."

Ten feet ahead, Shuichi, latched onto Yuki's arm, was skipping along merrily saying, "Two days in Osaka with nothing to do, isn't it great? Huh, Yuki?"

"Fantastic," Yuki said in a dry tone. He didn't necessarily object to a break, but he wasn't going to get all excited over a single day, or in his case, two days off the tour bus.

Hiro was calling up Ayaka to let her know the good news. She was already planning to attend one of the concerts. Now it looked like they could actually spend some time together.

* * *

Finally the promised day off arrived, and Shuichi had PLANS. Shuichi envisioned an early start followed by a hearty breakfast and a day spent out on the town. He had a long list of all the local tourist attractions and had already worked out romantic scenarios for Yuki and himself, appropriate to each locale.

Yuki's plan, on the other hand, went something like: sleep late, sex, more sleep, late lunch, then pawning Shuichi off on someone else while he got some work done on his new novel.

Things didn't quite happen according to either plan.

Shuichi got his early start, after resorting to ear nibbling. Yuki got wake up sex, which wasn't part of Shuichi's original schedule but he was easily persuaded to work it in. Then the fight began.

Shuichi wanted to go see the sites. Yuki wouldn't be caught dead at a tourist attraction. Two hours and a lot of yelling and tears later the two compromised on shopping. Shopping was in fact on Shuichi's list of activities and Yuki actually needed a few things, he was almost out of cigarettes and shampoo and he forgot to pack a robe.

Late that afternoon the couple trudged back into their hotel room--Yuki carrying a bag with the necessities he'd set out to buy, Shuichi piled down with whimsical souvenirs, also known as useless junk.

Just inside the door, Shuichi dropped all his packages on the floor. "Yuki," he said in a tremulous voice, "I don't feel so good."

Yuki glanced at his usually hyper lover and saw that he was looking rather green. "I told you to stay away from the squid," Yuki said unsympathetically.

"But it smelled so good," Shuichi protested.

"The cart was filthy," Yuki replied, as he cut the tag off the robe he just bought.

"Yuki, I think I'm going to be sick," Shuichi said faintly, then made a slight retching sound.

"Then what are you just standing there for?" Yuki demanded. "Bathroom, now," he ordered as he tossed his new robe on the bed and shoved Shuichi into the bathroom. It wasn't a second too soon either. As soon as he stepped through the doorway, Shuichi collapsed on the tiles in front of the toilet and puked up everything he'd eaten that afternoon.

When Shuichi was done, Yuki turned on the bathroom sink, dampened a wash cloth and ran a glass of water both of which he handed to Shuichi. Shuichi rinsed his mouth out and wiped his chin. "Feeling better?" Yuki asked.

Shuichi nodded and tried to get up. Once Shuichi had stood all the way, he swayed a bit in place, turned green once again, then crashed back to the floor to throw up in the toilet some more. Apparently he'd missed some of his lunch the previous time, because there was still more coming up.

Shuichi, exhausted, rested his head against the cool porcelain of the toilet seat. Yuki knelt beside him and felt Shuichi's forehead. "You haven't got a fever," Yuki observed. "Do you want this back, or are you going to puke some more?" he asked holding up the glass of water.

Shuichi simply moaned in agony and started retching again. Yuki held Shuichi's head over the bowl till he stopped dry heaving then he carried Shuichi's limp form into the bedroom and placed him gently on the bed. Shuichi reached out and grabbed one of Yuki's sleeves before the older man could leave the room. "Stay," he pleaded.

Yuki stared down at his ailing lover for a second. Figuring he might as well, since he'd planned to sleep more that day anyway, he said, "Fine, but try not to breathe on me. Your breath's terrible."

* * *

The next morning, five people rested and refreshed for the second leg of the journey plus a still haggard looking Shuichi assembled in front of the bus. Four accusing pairs of eyes landed on Yuki.

"Don't look at me," Yuki said. "It was all his fault." Then he climbed on the bus, leaving Shuichi behind with his sympathizers.

Hiro wrapped a sympathetic arm around Shuichi's shoulder. Shuichi, still exhausted and grateful for the support, leaned into his friend. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but sometimes it helps," Hiro offered.

"Whatever happened, you can tell us," K added solicitously--worried that another Yuki/Shuichi blow-up was about to ruin tonight's gig. "You're among friends here."

Mizuki and Suguru nodded in agreement.

"Squid," Shuichi said in a weak, raspy voice.

"Huh?" Hiro said. That wasn't the answer he was expecting.

"Bad squid," Shuichi elaborated, shuttering slightly.

"Ah, a little food poisoning," K said relieved turning to get on the bus. "You had me worried there for a second. I thought it might have been something serious."

"Take it easy and don't push yourself to eat till you feel up to it, you'll be better before you know it," Hiro added, patting Shuichi on the back before he followed K on to the bus.

"Stay away from fried things," Mizuki advised.

"Nothing spicy," Suguru added.

Then Mizuki and Suguru boarded the bus as well, leaving Shuichi standing on the pavement by himself. "Isn't anyone worried about me at all?" he grumbled to himself. "I spent half the night dry heaving. Don't they want me to see a doctor or something?" Then he boarded the bus himself, still slightly put out at his friend's apparent lack of concern for his delicate health.

Shuichi spent all morning napping in his usual place next to Yuki. Around noon, when the rest of the group started to unpack the hamper of gourmet foods K had the hotel restaurant fix them for lunch, Shuichi awoke feeling rested, refreshed, healthy, and hungry.

"Mmh," Shuichi said, taking a deep breath, "Lunch looks good. Where's mine?"

Hiro, Suguru, Mizuki, K, and Yuki, who'd already divie'd up the delicacies, simply looked at each other. Not one of them was willing to give up a single slice of premium tuna or a single piece of salmon roe sushi.

"Here," Yuki said, handing Shuichi a bowl of plain rice.

Shuichi looked from his bowl of rice to the sushi everyone else was eating and back to his plain rice. Pouting and sniffling, Shuichi whined, "But..."

"You were sick to your stomach all night," Yuki pointed out reasonably, cutting off Shuichi's protest.

"It doesn't pay to rush back into these things," Hiro added before Shuichi could insist he felt fine.

"Eat something too rich for your stomach now and you'll have a relapse," Suguru jumped on the bandwagon.

"Very wise," K agreed, nodding sagely. "Shuichi, I forbid you to eat anything besides plain rice until after tonight's show."

"Everyone's picking on me today," Shuichi mumbled under his breath. "It's not fair." Then he reluctantly dug into the rice. After all, bland was better than nothing.

* * *

Yuki fluffed the undersized thing the hotel called a pillow, pulled the too small blanket up to his chin and shifted a little to the right in a vain attempt to move off of what felt like a largish rock. The air conditioner clicked on. Yuki shivered partly as a psychological reaction but mostly due to the near arctic temperature in the room.

Grumbling in frustration, Yuki sat up in bed. "Five star hotel, like hell..." he muttered to himself as he pushed his hair out of his face with one hand. Even exhausted as he was after a long day of book signing and actually being polite to fans, sleeping was starting to look like an impossibility. He had been given the hotel room from hell with no chance of reprisal--tourist season had all the local lodging establishments fully booked. Just as the author was about to get up to get his laptop, figuring that if he couldn't sleep he might as well work, there were sounds of someone fumbling with keys at the door. A few seconds later, the door opened just enough to let a small--immediately recognizable to Yuki and pop music fans all over Japan--figure slip through, quietly closing the door behind himself.

"Shuichi's here," Yuki silently noted to himself, without the unholy glee with which Shuichi would make such an observation if their positions were reversed but pleased none-the-less. Shuichi took one step inside the room, which must have appeared to be in total darkness to his unadjusted eyes, and nearly crashed into the luggage rack placed next to the door.

"Idiot. Turn on a light before you trip and break something," Yuki ordered.

"Yuki! You're awake!" Shuichi exclaimed excitedly, as he fumbled for the light switch on the wall next to the door. The bedside lamp switched on and Shuichi launched himself at Yuki. Yuki, still blinking in the too bright light, managed to catch the petite singer and hold him at arms length before he managed full bodily contact. "Yukiiiii!" Shuichi whined shrilly, still struggling to embrace his bed rumpled and unexpectedly awake lover.

"I just showered and you're sweaty and coated in stage make-up," Yuki calmly pointed out.

Shuichi stopped struggling, his face screwed up in a manner that Yuki refused to describe as cute, no matter how much he was tempted. Abruptly all the tension went out of the singer's body. Seeing that reason had finally penetrated and Shuichi wasn't going to jump him, Yuki loosened his grip, allowing Shuichi to collapse in a heap on the side of the bed. "I'll shower," Shuichi said.

"Good," Yuki replied, wondering why Shuichi was still kneeling in front of him giving him his most winsome look.

"Come with me," Shuichi pleaded, pleating the bedspread with his fingers.

"No," Yuki answered as he reached for the cigarettes and lighter on the bed stand.

"Why not?" Shuichi asked, pouting slightly as he absentmindedly took the cigarettes out of Yuki's hand.

"Because I already showered," Yuki answered in a warning tone as he snatched the pack back.

"A little more water won't kill you and you're not suppose to smoke in here..." Shuichi trailed off before a full-fledged fight could result from his nagging.

"It's freezing in here because the air conditioner won't turn off and there aren't any other rooms. Consideration for hotel policies isn't currently high on my priority list."

"It is cold in here," Shuichi agreed, suddenly starting to shiver now that he'd noticed. Shuichi snuck in a quick kiss to Yuki's ear, hopped off the bed, and headed toward the bathroom shouting over one shoulder, "Be back in a minute, and don't smoke in bed. I hate burned sheets." Then he disappeared into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

Yuki looked down at his pack of cigarettes, then over at the cold floor, back to the cigarettes, then over to the closed bathroom door. A thought suddenly occurring to him, a slightly evil smile spread across the author's face. Yuki set the cigarettes back on the table and settled back against the headboard, hands placed casually behind his head, and waited.

Thirty seconds later there was a loud shriek from the bathroom and two minutes after that a slightly blue and still damp Shuichi, wearing only a pair of pale blue novelty boxers decorated with little yellow duckies pelted out of the bathroom and dived under the covers. "C-cold," he stuttered through chattering teeth as he snuggled against Yuki.

"The hot water heater gave out a couple hours ago," Yuki explained sniffing his bedmate, who still smelled a bit like wet puppy but had managed to reach an acceptable level of cleanliness with his quick, icy scrub.

"You could have warned me," Shuichi grumbled good-naturedly. Normally, he'd complain at length about Yuki's meanness, but from his current position--that being a full body Yuki-glomp--he just couldn't quite work up the proper ire. Yuki'd flinched a little at the first touch of icy skin, but Shuichi had quickly warmed up so he hadn't pushed him away.

Yuki ignored Shuichi's complaint, per usual, as he pried Shuichi loose from his side--kissing the singer to keep him distracted and compliant. Settling Shuichi on his back on the bed next to him, Yuki broke the kiss to slide down in bed a bit. Yawning widely, Shuichi looked up at Yuki with an apologetic expression, "Yuki... I want to... I'm just so tired... I'm sorry..."

"Moron," Yuki commented affectionately as he switched off the lamp. "Go to sleep," he ordered as he settled back into the bed, now turned onto his stomach and with half his body draped across Shuichi's and his head tucked under the singer's chin.

Shuichi wrapped his arms around Yuki's neck and twined the fingers of one hand in his hair. An amazed look on his face, but still taking care to be silent and not irritate his lover into spoiling the moment, Shuichi mentally sing-songed, "He's cuddling. Yuki's cuddling. Yuki's..."

Then reality intruded. First, Yuki's weight was cutting off circulation to Shuichi's shoulder--causing an unpleasant tingly sensation. Then, Yuki wriggled his icy fingers into the warm spaces beneath Shuichi's shoulder blades, making the singer squirm. "Be still," Yuki murmured already half asleep.

Eyes narrowed in suspicion, the mental happy chant abruptly stopped. "Yuki's using me as a pillow!" Shuichi realized, starting to get irate. Then as soon as the irritation came, Shuichi shrugged it aside, deciding that he'd take a snuggly Yuki any way he could get him, even if that meant acting as a Shu-shaped pillow/hot water bottle.

* * *

Early the next morning two teenage girls in maid's uniforms were trying their best to suppress nervous giggles as they arrived outside a particular hotel room door pushing a towel cart or, as the hotel liked to call it, a 'courtesy cart.'

"Shh," the first girl whispered to the second, placing one finger over her lips. "If we get caught, we're fired."

"Ami-chan, who cares?" the second girl whispered back, rolling her eyes at her timid friend. "We only got these crappy jobs because our parents made us. Our whole summer completely sucked! Getting to meet Shindo Shuichi--"

"And Yuki Eiri," Ami interrupted to add.

"Meeting Shindo Shuichi and Yuki Eiri, in person, will be the only thing that'll save an ultra-crappy summer holiday. So are we doing this or not?" the girl continued, giving Ami a hard-eyed look.

Ami took a deep, calming breath, nodded, and confirmed, "We're doing it Minako-chan. We'll stick to the plan. We'll meet them. Everything will be fine." Despite it being a crappy job, Ami really didn't want to be fired.

"Go ahead and open the door then," Minako ordered Ami, pushing her toward the door.

"Why me?" Ami asked. "Why don't you do it?"

"Because, when we say they didn't hear us knock, they'll be more likely to believe it if it's you. You're always so quiet," Minako explained impatiently.

Ami, still worried about getting in trouble with the boss, couldn't resist lightly tapping on the door and announcing, "Maid service," in a voice barely above a whisper. Duties theoretically fulfilled, Ami semi-calmly unlocked the door to the room and stepped inside, apology for the interruption already on her lips. Instead of frantically apologizing to a couple celebrities--what Minako was expecting from Ami--Ami froze just inside the doorway.

"What is it?" Minako hissed, as she narrowly avoided running the towel cart into Ami. "They didn't leave already, did they?"

Ami made a shushing motion with one hand, then stepped to one side to give Minako room to enter. Minako stepped around the cart and into the room. As soon as the bed came into view, Minako was struck speechless for the first time in her life.

There they were, two of the hottest men in Japan snuggled in bed together. Sound asleep.

Yuki-sama was cuddling Shindo-san like he was an oversized, pink-haired teddy bear. He was drooling slightly on Shuichi's shoulder and wearing a grin Ami, the Yuki-fiend, had never seen despite being the proud owner of perhaps the most extensive collection of Yuki Eiri memorabilia known to fan-girl-kind.

Shu-chan had kicked most of the blankets off in his sleep. If it weren't for some teeny-tiny whimsically decorated boxers, the pop star would have been naked. Minako was seeing more of her current obsession than she could have ever hoped to, even taking revealing stage costumes into consideration.

Ami and Minako were two very happy fan girls. Minako was the first to recover from her shock. She pulled a digital camera from her apron pocket and started snapping pictures, slowly moving around the bed to make sure not an angle was missed.

"What are you doing?" Ami silently mouthed to her friend.

Minako just gave Ami a 'are you stupid or something?' look and kept taking pictures. After Minako had enough photos to suit her--or perhaps she'd just run out of room in the camera's memory--she waved Ami out of the room and the two tiptoed away, never waking the room's occupants.

* * *

Sometime later that day Shuichi twitched, sneezed, and woke up. He brushed the spiky ends of Yuki's hair away from his nose, kissed Yuki's temple, then gently disentangled himself from his lover's grasp. Yuki, with Shuichi's pillow now in Shuichi's place, showed no signs of waking up.

Shuichi, trying to rub some feeling back into the shoulder Yuki'd been laying on, stumbled into the bathroom, eyes still half closed with sleep. After splashing some water on his face and brushing his teeth Shuichi eyed the shower suspiciously. On one hand, he really hated cold showers--really, really hated them. On the other, the air conditioner had finally died earlier that morning, the room was now a little on the warm side and heading toward hot, and the quick scrub the previous night was hardly satisfying--Shuichi still felt kinda grubby from the concert. After some consideration, Shuichi finally decided to take the risk. He turned on the water, took a deep breath, braced himself for the shock, and jumped in. Testing the water before he got in was something that never actually occurred to Shuichi.

Fortunately, it being mid-day and most of the hotel's occupants being morning or evening bathers, there was plenty of hot water.

Half an hour later hair wet, towel wrapped around his waist, and still humming the end of one of Nittle Grasper's greatest hits, Shuichi climbed onto the bed and straddled Yuki's sleeping form. Mischievous grin firmly in place, Shuichi leaned down to wake Yuki by his favorite method.

As soon as Yuki felt soft lips and teeth gently nibbling at his ear, he was up like a shot--back pressed against the headboard and one hand rubbing his violated ear.

"Good morning, Yuki," Shuichi said brightly.

"Morning," Yuki replied, not at all brightly but reasonably civil. Yuki eyed Shuichi speculatively. Having a squeaky clean Shuichi, clad only in a towel, straddling him was giving Yuki ideas--ideas which Shuichi would be more than happy to accommodate. Debating on whether or not to act on said ideas, Yuki glanced over at the clock. "Damn," Yuki swore, pushing Shuichi off his lap and getting out of bed.

Startled at the sudden change in position, Shuichi sat on the bed blinking at Yuki. "Huh?"

"We have a meeting with our managers in ten minutes," Yuki explained as he stepped into the bathroom and turned on the water to brush his teeth.

"They can wait," Shuichi wheedled, still not making any moves to get dressed.

Yuki didn't reply for a moment as he hastily brushed his teeth, after spitting out the toothpaste he contradicted Shuichi, saying, "Mizuki can wait. Your lunatic manager will kick the door down and threaten us with an Uzi."

"Uhmm... That might be kinda embarrassing," Shuichi acknowledged, reluctantly getting off the bed and going over to fish in his over stuffed duffel bag for clean clothes.

Yuki snorted in disagreement as he took neatly folded slacks and a button down shirt out of his suitcase. "Frustrating's more like it," Yuki corrected.


	6. Chapter 6: Home

Chapter 6  
  
At some ungodly hour of the morning, long before sunrise, Yuki Eiri was standing outside his apartment door--juggling keys, a mostly asleep lover, and his own case of extreme exhaustion. Or, to be more exact, Yuki was trying, without much success, to unlock his front door--something which was normally a simple and easy to accomplish task. This time, circumstances were slightly different from normal.   
  
Yuki and Shuichi weren't just coming home from dinner. They were home from a seven-week tour of Japan, or at least they would be home as soon as Yuki got the door unlocked. The scheduled return date was actually for the next morning, but directly after Shuichi's last performance, without even taking time to collect their luggage, the two took a bullet train from Sapporo to Tokyo--hence the exhaustion. Yuki was trying to unlock the door with one hand while keeping a tight grip on a wobbling Shuichi with the other. This operation was further complicated by Yuki's currently blurry eyes multiplying the doorknob by three.  
  
Giving it up as a lost cause, Yuki let go of Shuichi and grabbed the doorknob. Shuichi, his main support suddenly gone, slid to the floor--his overcoat falling open to reveal the glittery stage costume he still hadn't changed out of. Grasping the doorknob in one hand and the key in the other, Yuki was finally able to make contact and open the door.  
  
Yuki grabbed Shuichi's coat collar and dragged the now loudly snoring singer inside the apartment. Yuki kicked the door closed behind them, dropped Shuichi just inside the door, stepped over his lover's prone form, staggered the three feet to the couch, and collapsed on to it--still fully dressed, including shoes and coat.  
  
A couple hours later Yuki woke up enough to toe off his shoes, then he promptly fell back into a deep sleep. Shuichi, woken by the thudding sound of Yuki's shoes hitting the floor, yawned, kicked off his own shoes, shrugged off his overcoat, then crawled onto the couch with Yuki for some more sleep.  
  
About mid morning, the chaffing from the sequined shirt finally got to Shuichi. Trying not to wake Yuki, Shuichi slowly climbed over his unconscious lover. Unfortunately, the couch wasn't quite as wide as Shuichi thought. Shuichi's knee came down on empty air rather than the couch cushion he was expecting. He wobbled a moment, desperately trying to regain his balance, but gravity won out in the end. Shuichi tumbled off the couch, twisting slightly to avoid colliding with the coffee table. A loud thump and a muffled squeak echoed in the quiet apartment as Shuichi landed hard on his butt.  
  
Yuki's eyes fluttered open and his gaze met Shuichi's. Shuichi, kneeling on the floor next to the couch and rubbing his injured posterior, grinned apologetically and whispered, "Sorry, go back to sleep."  
  
Yuki, stretched, yawned, and asked in a sleep-roughened voice, "What are you going to do?"  
  
"Change," Shuichi answered, pushing his bangs out of his face with one hand. Then looking down at the crispy remains of the previous night's hair gel on his hand, he added, "And take a shower."   
  
"A shower sounds good," Yuki agreed as he sat up on the couch and took off his jacket, neatly folding it and draping it over the back of the couch, even though it was already well wrinkled.  
  
Shuichi, grinning widely, took Yuki's hand and dragged him into the bathroom.   
  
Yuki slapped Shuichi's hand away from the hot and coldwater knobs, not wanting to face the results of Shuichi's slipshod bath temperature adjustment methods. Shuichi pulled off all his clothes in the blink of an eye, threw them in the hamper by the door, and impatiently hopped up on the counter and bounced a foot against the cabinet door while he waited for Yuki to get the water ready.  
  
While he was waiting for the water to run hot, Yuki undressed. Yuki, unlike Shuichi didn't impatiently tear his clothes off. He took his time about it, unbuttoning each button and stepping out of his pants one leg at a time rather than letting them drop to the floor and jumping free. In other words, he undressed like a normal person.  
  
Shuichi, eyes glued to this operation, had gone completely still except for a tiny bit of drool trickling down his chin.   
  
Yuki smirked at his lover's reaction to his naked body, thinking that perhaps he should undress for Shuichi more often if that was the reaction he'd get. Yuki sauntered over to the sink. Shuichi started to lean in towards Yuki, thinking the older man was coming for him. But, Yuki actually had certain practical necessities on his mind. Reaching past Shuichi, Yuki pulled a toothbrush out of the holder by the sink. Taking the hint, Shuichi opened the medicine cabinet to get out his own brush--Shuichi's electric Hamtaro brush didn't fit in the holder.  
  
Shuichi and Yuki swiftly rid themselves of morning breath--Yuki watching himself in the mirror and Shuichi leaning against the mirror with his eyes fixed on Yuki. Shuichi rinsed, turned to face the mirror, and gave his reflection that weird inspecting-newly-cleaned-teeth grimace. Then he switched off his brush, put it up, and went back to staring at Yuki. Yuki spit, rinsed, and pressed his lips against Shuichi's to give the singer a deep minty kiss.  
  
In an almost involuntary reaction, Shuichi's arms wound around Yuki's neck and his legs wrapped around Yuki's waist. Shuichi's eyes fluttered shut as he squirmed closer to Yuki and a low humming purr of pleasure started in his chest.  
  
Yuki, still nibbling at Shuichi's bottom lip, scooped the tiny singer up off the counter and carried him into the still running and now perfectly adjusted shower. As soon as they stepped into the hot water, Yuki broke the kiss and relaxed his grip on Shuichi. Shuichi whimpered in protest, but reluctantly slid down Yuki's body till his feet met the cool porcelain of the shower floor--it was better to take a hint now than to be dropped later.   
  
Yuki reached over Shuichi's shoulder and grabbed a bottle of tangerine scented shampoo off the rack hanging from the showerhead--thinking that of Shuichi's many revolving fruit scented soaps, that it was one of the better smelling. Yuki squeezed a small dollop of shampoo into his hand, set the bottle back on the rack, and started to lather Shuichi's now soaking wet hair.  
  
Shuichi's eyes fell shut and his body leaned into Yuki's, limp with ecstasy. Yuki kissing him was good, Yuki doing other things was better, but this... this was beyond anything. Yuki wasn't frequently so much as pleasant, to have him performing such an intimate and caring service for Shuichi, with no prompting whatsoever--that was something truly rare. Shuichi felt truly pampered as Yuki massaged the shampoo into his scalp with slow firm strokes of his oh so talented hands.  
  
Yuki walked Shuichi back a pace, so that the singer was standing directly under the showerhead. Yuki ran his hands through Shuichi's hair, lightly grazing Shuichi's scalp with his fingernails as he worked the shampoo and remnants of hair styling product free.  
  
"Yuki..." Shuichi contentedly murmured against Yuki's chest, clearly delighted by his lover's attentions.  
  
Having finished washing Shuichi's hair, Yuki pushed Shuichi away. Shuichi's eyes sprung open and fixed on Yuki with a look half pleading and half question.   
  
Yuki handed Shuichi a bar of soap and a washcloth then turned away from him. Looking back over his shoulder, "Get my back for me," Yuki suggested.  
  
Understanding dawning, Shuichi grinned and nodded. Shuichi lathered up the washcloth and stroked it over Yuki's back. After finishing with his back, Shuichi stepped around Yuki and nudged Yuki backward toward the running water. Yuki didn't move. Raising one eyebrow challengingly, Shuichi pointed one imperious finger and commanded Yuki, "Rinse."  
  
Yuki smirked at his suddenly bossy lover and obligingly stepped backward into the water--deciding to see what Shuichi had planned.   
  
Shuichi, grinning widely and enjoying being in control for once, started in on the rest of Yuki. He ever so slowly and meticulously slid the soapy cloth over Yuki's lightly muscled chest and stomach--careful not to miss a single inch. Going to his knees, Shuichi grinned mischievously up at Yuki. Then, with a look of intense concentration on his face, the tip of his tongue peaking out one corner of his mouth, he ran the cloth over his lover's thighs--ever so slowly working his way downward, washing knees, calves, and even paying special attention to each toe when he reached Yuki's feet.   
  
Yuki stood there, completely motionless, hot water streaming over his face and down his chest, watching his lover wash each and every centimeter of his body except for that one part most in need of attention. When Shuichi rose slightly and leaned in to Yuki in order to reach the author's butt--Yuki's eye's narrowed slightly and he licked his lips in anticipation, seeing Shuichi's head positioned so conveniently. When Shuichi gave Yuki's cheeks a little squeeze, Yuki couldn't quite repress a shudder.  
  
Taking that as his signal to finally let matters progress, Shuichi dropped the washcloth and rested his hands on Yuki's slim hips. Shuichi nuzzled his face against Yuki's hardness, breathing in the scent that was uniquely Yuki. Just as he touched his tongue to the tip of Yuki's erection, hands grasped Shuichi beneath his arms and hauled him up so that surprised violet eyes met irritated gold ones.  
  
"Yuki," Shuichi said hesitantly, "Did I..." he started to ask, thinking he'd done something wrong.  
  
"Idiot. You take too long. The water's already getting cold," Yuki said gruffly as he reached back to turn off the shower with one hand. Yuki stepped out of the shower, dragging a nonplused Shuichi with him. Yuki grabbed one of the extra large bath sheets he preferred out of the cabinet and started toweling himself off with one hand as he tossed a normal sized towel at Shuichi with the other.  
  
The towel hit Shuichi in the face, then flopped to the floor. Shuichi, slightly dazed by the rapidly changing situation, retrieved the towel and started patting himself dry. Shuichi not moving fast enough to suit him, Yuki grabbed the towel out of Shuichi's hands and roughly wiped down the singer.  
  
Once they were adequately dried, Yuki grabbed Shuichi's upper arm and dragged him into the bedroom. Yuki flicked the bath sheet over the bed, settling it in place with a snap, and pushed Shuichi on to it.   
  
"Yuki?" Shuichi asked what he should do, sitting at the end of the bed where Yuki had pushed him.  
  
Yuki simply grasped Shuichi's chin and turned the smaller man's face up to his for a deep kiss that promised wicked and delightful things to come. Still kissing Shuichi, Yuki climbed onto the bed, forcing Shuichi to scoot back to give him room. Breaking the kiss, Yuki whispered into Shuichi's ear, "On your stomach."  
  
Shuichi swiftly and enthusiastically complied. Yuki lay across Shuichi and Shuichi could feel Yuki stretching just slightly in order to retrieve a tube of lubrication from the bedside table. Shuichi squirmed in anticipation at the sensation of Yuki's smooth skin brushing along his back. Yuki sat back up and returned to a kneeling position between Shuichi's wide spread legs.  
  
After squeezing a generous amount of lubricant on his fingers and tossing the tube onto the floor for safety sake--it only took one set of ruined sheets to learn that lesson--Yuki crawled up Shuichi's body then eased down, letting his small lover take his full weight.   
  
Shuichi's front was pressed down into the cool dampness of the bath sheet, while his back was enveloped by the warmth of his lover's body. Shuichi moaned a little and wriggled his butt against Yuki's erection in encouragement, having just enough presence of mind left to remember that Yuki didn't like to talk during sex.  
  
One of Yuki's hands stroked down Shuichi's firm butt cheeks, then slipped between to slide one finger, then two, into Shuichi's opening. Yuki's other hand snaked around Shuichi's waist to grasp the singer's penis. A few firm strokes and fingers rhythmically pressing against his prostate from behind was all it took for Shuichi to lose control. As Shuichi came--shouting Yuki's name and leaving a mess on the bath towel--Yuki rose to his knees behind Shuichi, pulling Shuichi up and pushing his knees forward so that Shuichi was half kneeling and half laying on the bed.   
  
Once he had Shuichi perfectly positioned to give himself easy access, with one quick thrust, Yuki was lodged full length inside his still spasming lover. Shuichi merely quivered from sensory overload. The sensation of Yuki filling him was just too much to take when he was still experiencing the tail end of his own orgasm.  
  
Yuki thrust, twice, three times, and grunted in satisfaction as he achieved release. Yuki bonelessly collapsed on the bed, still inside his lover.   
  
Shuichi and Yuki simply lay there a moment, panting from exertion. After he had a moment to recover, Yuki pulled free of Shuichi and flipped over onto his back. Shuichi whimpered in protest.  
  
"What are you whining about?" Yuki asked accusingly, "I had to do all the work."  
  
Shuichi, still laying on his stomach, turned his head to look at Yuki and replied, "But you're so good at it."  
  
Yuki snorted and said, "And you're lazy."  
  
Shuichi, taking exception to that remark, turned on his side and propped his head up on one hand so that he could look Yuki in the eye. "I'm not lazy," Shuichi insisted. "You're just a control freak that has to be in charge of everything. Not that I mind or anything. Yuki's really sexy when he's telling me what to do. But, when you do the things you do I can't help myself... and then I can't do anything, even though I really want to--" Shuichi's protest was cut off by Yuki dragging him down for a kiss.  
  
"Fine, you're not lazy. I like to be in charge. You have no self control," Yuki agreed, nibbling Shuichi's pouty bottom lip between sentences. Yuki pushed Shuichi away, got out of bed, and yanked the soiled bath sheet out from under Shuichi. Shuichi squeaked in surprise and rolled off the other side of the bed as the towel came out from under him.   
  
Yuki retreated to the bathroom, came back a minute later with a damp cloth which he tossed to Shuichi--who was standing buck naked next to the bed putting up the lube. Yuki then climbed into bed, lay on his side with his back to Shuichi, and pulled the sheets and comforter up to his chin. Shuichi wiped the sticky residue off his body with the cloth Yuki tossed him, then climbed in bed to snuggle against Yuki's back.  
  
Inhaling the mingled scents of Yuki, soap, and sex, "We need another bath," Shuichi remarked.  
  
"Later," Yuki agreed, yawning. The second wind that came from four hours of sleep on the couch had just about run out and the nearly twenty-four hours without sleep was catching up with him.  
  
"Together?" Shuichi asked hopefully.  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"That would defeat the purpose," Yuki pointed out.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Now go to sleep," Yuki ordered.  
  
"'Kay," Shuichi agreed on the heels of his own jaw popping yawn. 


	7. Chapter 7: A Picture

Chapter 7  
  
Shuichi woke up late that afternoon--blinking in the late afternoon light streaming in through the windows. He yawned and stretched then lay there looking up at the ceiling for a moment. Shuichi was happy to finally be home and able to sleep late in Yuki's--no, make that 'their'--nice soft bed.   
  
He'd been sleeping with Yuki every night for months now. Since moving in, he'd usually start out sleeping with Yuki, but Yuki used to kick him out for fidgeting too much or stealing the covers. Now, Yuki would just yank the covers back, or shove Shuichi to the far side of the bed so the tossing and turning wouldn't bother him--still not exactly sweet and loving, but certainly an improvement.  
  
Shuichi rolled over onto his side and propped his head up with one hand so that he had a better view of his sleeping lover. Yuki was just too cute when he was unconscious. He was sleeping on his stomach, per usual, with one arm curled under his pillow and the other dangling off the side of the bed. The blankets had slipped down to his waist, revealing an enticing stretch of smooth, fair skin. But it was Yuki's hair that Shuichi just couldn't resist. It had dried into a mass of golden spikes and cowlicks that Shuichi was itching to run his hands through.  
  
Just as Shuichi leaned in to touch Yuki, Shuichi's stomach growled loudly and Yuki's eyes sprung open--causing Shuichi to freeze in place as if he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't. Yuki turned slightly, so he could look over his shoulder at Shuichi, and asked suspiciously, "What are you doing?"  
  
Shuichi swiftly put down the hand he suddenly realized he'd still been holding up and said, a shade too brightly, "Nothing." Shuichi could just imagine what Yuki would say if he admitted to nearly petting him.  
  
Yuki snorted skeptically, then suggested, "Then why don't you get up and do something useful."  
  
"But--" Shuichi started to protest, he wasn't going to let Yuki break a couple month streak of not kicking him out without a fight, but he was interrupted by his stomach growling even louder than the first time.  
  
"Lunch," Yuki clarified sitting up in bed and smoothing down his hair with one hand. Shuichi pouted a little because he didn't get to do it himself. Yuki wondered what Shuichi was pouting about then dismissed it as unimportant. "Italian," Yuki added--they hadn't had any good pasta in a while.  
  
"Okay," Shuichi agreed, lunch sounded good to him too. He turned to climb out of his side of the bed, took the covers in one hand to push them off, then paused, blushing a deep crimson. "Uh, Yuki?" Shuichi asked sounding embarrassed.  
  
Yuki, who was putting on the robe he'd just retrieved from a hook behind the bedroom door, turned back to look at Shuichi. "What?" he asked irritably, Shuichi asking for something rarely boded well.  
  
"Could you toss me some underwear?" Shuichi asked sheepishly.  
  
"You didn't mind me seeing you naked this morning," Yuki pointed out as he walked over to the dresser he grudgingly agreed to share with Shuichi not too long ago. Why Yuki was so reluctant to share was a mystery to Shuichi, Yuki'd only been using two of the six drawers. Besides socks and underwear, Yuki left almost all of his clothes on the hangers the laundry sent them back on.  
  
"That was different," Shuichi protested. Nudity in the bath or during sex was one thing, being naked where someone else could see was something else entirely.  
  
Yuki grabbed the first pair of boxers he came to in Shuichi's underwear drawer and held up a pair of yellow shorts with green bunnies on them. Yuki glanced at the shorts, then at Shuichi, then back at the shorts. A mocking smirk on his lips, Yuki tossed the boxers to Shuichi.  
  
"They were on sale," Shuichi said as he caught the shorts. Shuichi pulled on the boxers while carefully keeping under the covers till he was decently clothed.  
  
Yuki started to swear quietly, after reaching into the robe pocket where he normally kept cigarettes and a lighter and coming up empty. Now he remembered. Before they left he'd been almost out of cigarettes. Since they were leaving, he hadn't bothered to restock the apartment.   
  
Muttering angrily to himself, Yuki exited the bedroom looking for a nicotine fix. The train they took was non-smoking and after that he spent most of the day unconscious. It had been a while since Yuki's last cigarette. If it turned out that he had let himself run completely out of his drug of choice, Yuki was going to be extremely pissed with himself.  
  
Shuichi put on a random pair of shorts and a clashing t-shirt and followed Yuki out of the room. His stomach picking just then to remind him of how empty it was, he made a beeline for the kitchen phone, dialed Yuki's favorite Italian restaurant from memory, and placed their usual order. That taken care of, Shuichi hopped up on one of the kitchen stools and watched Yuki's so far fruitless search for cigarettes.  
  
Yuki searched all of the usual places--the kitchen cupboard, the box on the coffee table, his desk drawer--nothing. Returning to the den from his office, Yuki's eyes landed on the wrinkled jacket he'd left on the couch early that morning. Snatching up the jacket and emptying out the pockets onto the coffee table, Yuki came up with keys, a wallet, a lighter, and one pack of cigarettes--one mostly empty and completely crushed pack of cigarettes. Yuki contemplated the bent and broken cigarettes for a moment. Then he tossed them aside, grabbed his keys and wallet off the table, and headed toward the front door.  
  
"Yuki?" Shuichi called, momentarily stalling Yuki's progress.  
  
"What?" Yuki barked, in no mood for a lecture on the evils of smoking.  
  
"Bathrobe," Shuichi smugly pointed out, huge grin on his face. It wasn't often that he corrected Yuki rather than the other way around.  
  
Yuki turned around and went back to the bedroom, muttering something indecipherable under his breath. Seconds later he came back out clad in khakis and a gray turtle neck sweater. Stepping into the loafers he'd discarded earlier that day on his way to the door, this time he got as far as grasping the doorknob before Shuichi stopped him with another, "Yuki?"  
  
"Yes?" Yuki said warningly, not turning around or removing his hand from the knob. He appreciated the save with the bathrobe, but that didn't mean he was in the mood for any of Shuichi's nonsense.  
  
"Lunch is suppose to be here in twenty minutes," Shuichi said.  
  
"I'm just going to the corner store," Yuki answered, not seeing what Shuichi was getting at.  
  
"If the food gets here before you get back, how am I supposed to pay for it?" Shuichi asked.  
  
Yuki actually turned to look over one shoulder at Shuichi at this point, "And why, pray tell, can't you pay for lunch with your own money?" Yuki knew for a fact that Shuichi's income had just exceeded his own--the tour was very successful.  
  
"My wallet didn't fit in my stage costume so I left it in my luggage," Shuichi explained. "I'm broke 'til Hiro brings me my stuff."  
  
Yuki, without saying a word, took his wallet out of his back pocket, took out enough money to cover lunch, tossed the cash on the table, and left to buy his smokes.  
  
Half an hour later, Shuichi had just finished putting the food on actual plates and setting the table--that is kitchen counter/bar. Thinking that Yuki's clam linguini looked pretty good, maybe even better than his own pasta primavera, Shuichi was just about to take a forkful of Yuki's meal--just to test it out and it's not like Yuki would ever have to know, he wouldn't miss one bite--when the front door swung open and banged against the wall adjacent.  
  
A clearly seething Yuki stormed into the apartment, slamming the door shut behind him. He put the couple cartons of cigarettes he'd originally set out to buy down on the coffee table, took a couple calming drags off the one he was smoking, then unfolded and looked down at the newspaper he'd had tucked under one arm.  
  
"Uh... Did something happen?" Shuichi asked nervously.  
  
In response, Yuki simply tossed the newspaper he'd been looking at on the bar next to Shuichi's plate. Shuichi glanced down at the half page picture on the front of the entertainment section and exclaimed, "Aww, Yuki's so cute!" Looking up from the picture to the real life Yuki's pop-eyed incredulous expression, Shuichi asked confusedly, "Yuki's not cute?"  
  
Yuki stood there, blinking at Shuichi--completely at a loss for words.  
  
Shuichi looked back at the picture, trying to puzzle out what the big deal was. The light suddenly dawning, Shuichi exclaimed, "Hey! Someone was in our bedroom taking pictures. That's... that's kind of creepy," he finished with a shudder. 


	8. Chapter 8: A Meeting

Chapter 8  
  
The next morning Yuki, Shuichi, and the rest of Bad Luck were summoned to NG Records for a joint strategy/making-sure-no-one-does-anything-stupid session with K, Sakano, Mizuki, and Tohma. Sakano thought they needed a strategy for dealing with the latest media frenzy. K, Mizuki, and Tohma were mostly just worried someone was going to do something stupid.  
  
Yuki and Shuichi were the first to arrive. K--not accounting for Yuki's tendency toward punctuality--told them to come at a quarter to nine even though the meeting what scheduled for nine sharp. K was accustomed to having to compensate for Shuichi's chronic tardiness. The receptionist directed them to meeting room three. Shuichi and Yuki went upstairs and made themselves comfortable in the well-padded executive style chairs that were arranged around a long oval-shaped table.  
  
Shuichi spent a good minute playing with his chair, adjusting the height, the tension in the back, and then spinning round and round to thoroughly test out the swivel. Yuki, feeling that he'd been extremely tolerant to let Shuichi's childish behavior go on as long as it had, grabbed the back of the chair-- abruptly stopping Shuichi in mid-spin. "Don't play with the chair," Yuki ordered.  
  
Shuichi opened his mouth to protest, noticed Yuki's still stormy expression, and thought better of it. Yuki had been in a foul mood ever since he saw that newspaper. Yesterday, Yuki scarfed down lunch without saying a word to Shuichi. Then, he retreated to his office for the rest of the day. When Shuichi tried to talk to him, they ended up in a stupid fight--screaming at each other over which set of crazy fans, Shuichi's or Yuki's, was responsible for the picture. That night, they went to bed sticking assiduously to their own sides of the bed and still not speaking to each other--something that hadn't happened for a very long time.  
  
Yuki inspected the not spinning Shuichi out of the corner of his eye. Shuichi was gnawing on his bottom lip and his eyes were nervously darting around the room, looking for a distraction. The brat was clearly stressed about something. Yuki started to think he might possibly have been just the tiniest bit hard on the kid. Deciding to take pity on Shuichi, Yuki turned his chair toward Shuichi's, placed one hand at the base of Shuichi's skull, and pulled the singer in for a kiss.  
  
Shuichi froze in shock for a split second when he felt Yuki's tongue slide soothingly over the lip Shuichi had been gnawing at. Quickly getting over his surprise, Shuichi wound his arms around Yuki's neck and moaned encouragingly while unconsciously managing to migrate from his own chair to Yuki's lap.   
  
Just then, the door to the conference room swung open and banged against the wall. K stepped through the door he'd just kicked open, carrying an arm full of newspapers with a spindle of slides balanced on the top. Hiro trailed in just behind him.   
  
K saw Shuichi straddling Yuki, glanced down at his watch, then did a double take. Shuichi wasn't supposed to be there yet. "The meeting doesn't start until 0900. Carry on," K said blithely as he placed the newspapers on the table and loaded the spindle into the slide projector stationed at the back of the room.  
  
"You're early," Hiro observed as he sat down in the chair opposite Yuki and Shuichi.  
  
"Someone told us the wrong time," Yuki said, giving K an evil look. K was oblivious; he was too busy flipping through the newspapers he'd brought in.  
  
Shuichi, noticing that Hiro wasn't as chipper as he had been the past few weeks, asked, "Is something wrong? Everything is still okay with Ayaka and her parents, isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah... I think," Hiro said scratching the back of his head and grinning sheepishly. "Ayaka called me about invitations to the engagement party last night and I kind of dozed off--but she wasn't pissed."   
  
On the band's stop in Kyoto, Hiro visited Ayaka's family, and the couple got permission from her parents to marry. Ayaka's mother immediately approved of 'such a polite, handsome, young man.' Hiro wasn't what she'd been picturing when she'd heard the words 'rock star' at all. Ayaka's father was a harder sell, but after looking at Hiro's earnings statement and investment portfolio, he grudgingly gave his approval as well. Now, Ayaka and her mother were already planning the wedding--one of those elaborate all day affairs with a guest list in triple digits. It was tentatively scheduled the spring of next year.   
  
"She keeps asking my opinion on wedding plans," Hiro went on to explain, "But as long as the marriage is legal, I don't care what kind of food is served at the reception. I think she's starting to think I'm having second thoughts."  
  
"Are you having second thoughts?" Yuki asked pointedly. Shuichi gave Hiro an apologetic look on Yuki's behalf--Yuki only asked questions like that because he didn't know any better.  
  
"No, not at all," Hiro said with conviction. "If it were up to me, we'd elope tomorrow. I'm just worried she thinks I might be because I'm not as excited about flowers and dress patterns as she is."  
  
"Did you tell her what you just told us?" Shuichi asked as he rearranged himself to sit sideways in Yuki's lap instead of straddling him--the better to face Hiro.  
  
"Of course he didn't," Yuki interjected. "Hiro has better sense than that. Telling a woman you don't care about the nitpicky details of 'the most important day of her life' is just asking for a fight."  
  
"So you think I'm going to have to fake enthusiasm for the next year or so?" Hiro asked as if he already knew the answer but was praying someone would tell him different.  
  
"Either that or make a pointless romantic gesture from time to time to make up the difference," Yuki suggested.  
  
Shuichi simply beamed in happiness to see his lover and best friend getting along so well. Hiro had thawed considerably toward Yuki during the tour--seeing Yuki and Shuichi bickering like an old married couple or cuddling on the couch had significantly altered Hiro's perception of the grumpy author. Only hearing about what Yuki had done or said secondhand from Shuichi after one of their blowups didn't paint the best picture of Yuki. After witnessing some of Shuichi and Yuki's better moments, Hiro's lingering doubts about Yuki actually being good for his best friend were finally cleared up.   
  
Yuki found he could tolerate Hiro better than he could most people. Hiro didn't have any outstandingly irritating habits and he didn't want anything more from Yuki than what Yuki was planning to do anyway. All Hiro asked was that he make Shuichi happy. Although Yuki wouldn't be caught dead saying anything to that effect, he really did like to keep his adorable brat happy. Also, Hiro was unwaveringly loyal to Shuichi, and loyalty was a trait Yuki placed extremely high value on.   
  
"I could do something romantic," Hiro said contemplatively, mulling over his options for placating Ayaka. "But it can't be anything too obvious. If I suddenly haul out moonlit walks and candles she's going to get suspicious."  
  
"Do whatever you did when you first met, maybe throw in a nice dinner, but nothing too fancy," Yuki suggested. "It worked for you the first time and it'll be symbolic."  
  
"You're really good at this," Hiro observed.  
  
"I write romance novels for a living, it's my job," Yuki said dismissively.  
  
"Uh, Yuki? Why don't you ever--" Shuichi started.  
  
"Don't even say it," Yuki cut Shuichi off. "Women live for that romantic crap, but you should know better. It's all just a game people play to get what they want. Romance is pretty words and empty gestures that have nothing to do with reality."  
  
"Not everyone is like that," Shuichi protested. Before the argument could go any further, the minute hand on the clock over the door ticked over to point directly at the twelve. Suguru and Tohma walked in--precisely on time. Sakano followed right behind, pushing a cart with tea, coffee, and all the necessary accoutrements.  
  
"Good morning everyone," Tohma said, giving everyone his usual genial smile. Suguru quietly sat down between Hiro and K, and Sakano started passing out beverages fixed just the way people liked them. Taking his place at the head of the table, Tohma continued, "Mizuki-san telephoned to say she's stuck in traffic and to start without her. Everyone please have a seat so we can begin... There's plenty of room for everyone," Tohma added looking pointedly at Shuichi who was still sitting in Yuki's lap.  
  
Shuichi blushed crimson and started to get up. Yuki, whose leg was starting to fall asleep and was about to tell Shuichi to get off anyway, suddenly changed his mind. Yuki shifted Shuichi's weight to his other leg, wrapped his arms around Shuichi's waist to pull him closer, and rested his chin on Shuichi's shoulder. After getting the pink haired singer properly settled, Yuki looked over at Tohma with a dry challenging look, as if to say, "I dare you." Yuki loved Tohma like a brother, but he'd had just about as much meddling in his life from the older man as he was going to take.  
  
Tohma blinked a couple times, smiled benignly at Yuki and Shuichi--ceding the point for now--and took a sip of the tea Sakano had served him. "Excellent tea, exactly as I like it, thank you Sakano-san," Tohma said smiling at Sakano.  
  
"You're welcome," Sakano stammered out, blushing like a schoolgirl.  
  
"K, what did you find out?" Tohma asked.  
  
K picked up a remote and pushed a few buttons. A screen lowered from the ceiling at the front of the room and the lights dimmed. The slide projector clicked on and the picture that had appeared in yesterday's newspaper appeared on the screen. In a rarely heard no-nonsense tone, K began his presentation.  
  
"As you can see there are no reflections nor is there a window frame present in the picture, also taking the perspective of the photo in consideration," here K clicked over to a new slide that had line diagrams of stick figures on beds and possible camera angles, "the perpetrator had to have been in the same room with you when the picture was taken. Neither a hidden camera, nor a person stationed outside the hotel with a telephoto lens could have achieved the same results."  
  
"K-san," Suguru said when K paused to look around the room and check to be sure everyone was following so far. "You said it was a hotel room, how can you be sure? None of the surrounding room or furniture is shown in the photo."  
  
"Excellent question," K said, beaming at Suguru as if he was an enthusiastic professor pleased with a particularly bright student. "I was just getting to that. By the process of elimination, I was able to determine not only that it was a hotel, but which particular hotel it was."  
  
K flipped back to the first slide, "In the original photo the light source is clearly on the right. In their apartment," K clicked over to another shot of Shuichi and Yuki sleeping together--this time both were wearing PJs and keeping to their own sides of the bed, "the window is on the left."  
  
"And where did that picture come from?" Yuki growled at K.  
  
"A manager must take an interest in all aspects of his client's life if he's going to be prepared for any eventuality. I could have taken notes, but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words," K explained, finishing his comment with one of his trademark insane sounding laugh.  
  
Remembering that the gun-toting maniac was indeed a gun-toting maniac, Yuki dropped the subject.  
  
Getting back to the original point, K started flipping through pictures of hotel rooms, "The light was wrong for almost all of the rooms assigned to Yuki and Shuichi during the tour. This one, the window is on the left, that one it's facing the wrong direction, the next has a tree in front of it casting shadows." Quickly flipping through a succession of rooms it couldn't be and pointing out what was wrong with each, K finally got to the rooms it could have been, "There were only two possibilities, but one of those hotels uses only cream colored sheets," K flipped past a picture of a bed with cream sheets. "The sheets in the photo are plain white--leaving the hotel in Nagoya as the only possibility," K finished triumphantly, pulling up a picture of the outside of the hotel.  
  
At some point during this explanation, Shuichi had leaned back against Yuki's shoulder and dozed off. Hiro was making a valiant effort to stay awake, but he was just barely suppressing jaw-popping yawns himself. The slides and K's monologue were just too much like science class. Even Yuki was having a hard time paying attention, after the first few slides he started mentally composing the epilogue to his current novel. Sakano and Tohma didn't even attempt listening to the presentation--they were quietly whispering back and forth about the details of some new business contract. Suguru, on the other hand, was sitting up straight, hands clasped in front of him, and paying close attention.   
  
Finally, K got to the point everyone was interested in. "Upon politely questioning the hotel staff, the culprits were overcome with guilt and confessed their crimes," K said, unconsciously caressing his gun in such a way as to imply that K's idea of polite questioning probably didn't match up with any normal person's definition of 'polite' and that the culprits probably confessed out of some strong emotion which was likely less like guilt and more like fear. K brought up the next slide, which consisted of school photos of two teenage girls. "Siagyo Minako and Kamata Ami," K introduced the two girls--pointing to each picture in turn.  
  
Seeing that a point of interest had finally arrived, Yuki nudged Shuichi awake.  
  
"They were working as maids as a summer job and entered the room using their staff pass key. Originally, the girls planned to keep the pictures secret and only for their own personal use," here K smirked, thinking about what kind of use they might have put them to, "But, Siagyo wanted to buy a car, so she sold the pictures to get the money for a down payment. It looks like we're dealing with run of the mill opportunists rather than crazed stalkers."  
  
"I assume the hotel dismissed the girls when this information came to light," Tohma stated.  
  
"They were fired on the spot and the manager immediately called Tokyo University to reverse the recommendations for admittance he'd written for them," K explained.  
  
"Uh... Isn't that a little harsh?" Hiro interjected. "Something as suspicious as a revoked recommendation on their records could keep them from getting into even a second rate college. They're not ax murderers, they just made a mistake."  
  
"I wouldn't worry about it too much. There are plenty of good trade schools that won't even look at their records as long as they can pay the tuition," Yuki replied, not at all sympathetic.  
  
Just then Mizuki ducked into the room. She apologized for being late and sat down next to Yuki and Shuichi, across the table from Suguru, and asked, "What did I miss?"  
  
"Two hotel maids snuck in their room and took pictures. They've been fired and have to go to trade school instead of university now," Suguru explained succinctly.   
  
"Thank you, K-san, for explaining how it happened. But, what are we going to do now? It's too late to avoid a scandal. Everyone has already seen the picture. What are we going to do to keep it from getting out of hand? We were going to release the new single next month, maybe we should push it back till things blow over?" Sakano asked, starting to work himself up to one of his episodes. Tohma headed off Sakano's spaz before itgot as far as hyperventilation by patting Sakano's shoulder and assuring him that all would proceed as originally scheduled.  
  
"I don't think we need to worry about a scandal. Shuichi and Yuki's relationship is already common knowledge. The fact that they sleep in the same bed is hardly shocking news," Mizuki pointed out.  
  
"But..." Sakano started to protest the easy dismissal of his concerns.  
  
"Before worrying about what the press might say, perhaps we should take a look at what they are already saying," Tohma suggested reasonably.  
  
"Right," K agreed as he started to pass out the newspapers he'd brought in. As the papers went around the table, they realized that instead of several copies of the same paper the stack actually consisted of the entertainment and society pages of all the various periodicals published that day which contained some mention of Yuki Eiri, Shindo Shuichi, or Bad Luck.  
  
Looking down at the page he'd taken, Hiro snorted in amusement and read aloud, "'Upon quizzing purchasers of the magazine at a local market, Akemi, 17, said "It's like, if Shu-chan were with some chick, I'd be all 'What does SHE have that I don't?' but since he's with Yuki Eiri that's okay 'cause I'd pick Eiri over me too."' Looks like your relationship is a-okay with Akemi, aren't you glad?" Hiro said grinning in amusement.  
  
"Ecstatic," Yuki said sarcastically.  
  
"This is more of the same," Mizuki added. Then she read aloud from her section, "'Two hot guys... together. That's just so hot. I'm getting excited just thinking about it,' then the writer goes on to detail the best dance clubs in the Gunma prefecture."   
  
"Aww, that's really sweet," Shuichi said, drawing everyone's puzzled stare. "Not that," Shuichi clarified, rolling his eyes. "This," he said holding up the page he was reading. "'It's great to see two people so deeply in love that they seek each other out even in sleep. Those kinds of feelings are hard enough to find in normal life. Considering the pressures of fame, fortune, and also that they just happen to be the same sex, the relationship of Shindo-san and Yuki-san is not only amazing, but inspiring as well. Seeing that picture in the morning post gives me hope that one day I will find my special someone and be just as happy as they are right now.'"  
  
"That is really sweet," Mizuki agreed, sharing a goofy grin with Shuichi.  
  
"Sweet isn't the word," Yuki disagreed, looking like he was about to gag.  
  
Not wanting to sit around all day reading out the statements of gushing fans on the subject of Shuichi and Yuki's relationship, Tohma decided to cut straight to the chase, "Has anyone found a comment on the picture that isn't glowing praise?"  
  
All around the table people shook their heads except for Suguru. "There's an opinion of a sociologist in this one that isn't exactly praise, but it's not critical either," Suguru said, "She says that Japanese women naturally admire romantic relationships between men because women are treated as second class citizens here and two men together is the only possible way a relationship can be between equals. She thinks that if women were treated better in society Yuki-san and Shuichi's relationship would be reviled and considered selfish, but since women are lesser, they serve as role-models and are a valid aspect of pop-culture."  
  
"Now that we've established that most of the women in Japan are completely insane, what are we going to do about the photos?" Yuki said irritably. "It might not be hurting my career any, but I still don't want my personal life spread across the front page of the paper."  
  
"Me neither," Shuichi agreed, massaging the back of Yuki's neck soothingly.  
  
"I'm afraid there's not much we can do at this point," Tohma said apologetically. "The picture has already run. Even if we had found out about it before publication, it's doubtful we could have stopped it. Privacy laws are rarely interpreted to protect public figures."  
  
"If there's nothing we can do, why couldn't K have just told us that we don't have a stalker over the phone instead of all of us having to waste an entire morning for no apparent reason?" Yuki inquired.  
  
"Maybe there is something we can do," Suguru contradicted.  
  
"You have an idea?" Tohma asked curious to know what his cousin came up with. Tohma really did call the meeting to waste everyone's time. Better to kill a morning discussing nothing than to have Shuichi or Yuki talking to the media while still wound up and stressed over the issue--the picture was nothing, but, considering the kinds of statements Yuki and Shuichi had a tendency to make, their reactions could have done some damage.   
  
"The public has already seen parts of Yuki and Shuichi's life that are supposed to be private. We can't take that back. But, the public doesn't have to know that what they saw really was private," Suguru explained.  
  
"Huh?" Shuichi said.  
  
Judging from his audience's expressions, Suguru saw that although his cousin seemed to know what he was talking about, no one else quite managed to follow. To clue the rest of the table in on his plan, Suguru explained in detail, "We're shooting the video for 'Everyday Life' next week. The director already said that he wants to shoots bits of the band's day-to-day life--waking up, brushing our teeth, going to the grocery store, things like that--to cut with live concert footage. If Yuki-san agreed to appear in the video, a scene just like the picture in the newspaper could be filmed."  
  
"Everyone would think the picture was from the video shoot, not a glimpse inside your bedroom," Hiro agreed with the plan. "Maybe I should ask Ayaka to make an appearance. If we're getting married, the press is going to go after her sometime. Everyone seeing us together for the first time in a video has to be better than the media ambushing us on a date," he added, contemplating the implications of his own situation. "At least with a video we've got some control."  
  
"Appearing in a Bad Luck video would be a great promotional opportunity," Mizuki added encouragingly. "It would get you exposure to an audience that rarely reads and could significantly boost sales."  
  
"Yuki, please say you'll be in the video," Shuichi pleaded, turning puppy dog eyes on Yuki full force. Acting with Yuki sounded like a lot of fun.  
  
Looking around the table and seeing that everyone seemed to think it was a good idea, Yuki admitted to himself the benefits of appearing in a Bad Luck video. Not being able to dredge up any negatives to counteract the positives of making an appearance--besides the standard negative of hating to be in front of a camera--Yuki grudgingly agreed to do the video. 


	9. Chapter 9: A Video

Chapter 9

"A little more to your left," Sanda Kyoji instructed Shuichi as he compared the image on a monitor with a photograph. When Shuichi had his hand adjusted to exactly match the picture that was published the week before, Sanda-san--the video's director--called out, "Perfect. Now, Yuki-san, smile."

In response to the director's order, Yuki's expression changed to a riotous grin. Yuki Eiri does not smile.

"No, no, that's not right!" Sanda-san said. "You look like you're in pain. Try to look happy."

Yuki grimaced and gave Sanda an evil look. Then he tried again. This time the smile was slightly better, though not by much. Now Yuki looked cold and calculating.

"Yuki-san, just relax and think happy thoughts," Sanda suggested.

At this completely unhelpful suggestion, Yuki started to look a little feral.

Sanda had taken Suguru's plan to heart and had been almost fanatical in his quest to perfectly replicate the photo from the paper. They'd just spent the last hour being poked and prodded into position then laying still while hair, makeup, set designers, and light people flitted around making minute adjustments. Strangers touching him and people giving him orders were two things Yuki hated the most and that's what had been going on all morning. Yuki had just about reached the end of his rope.

"Please, just one little smile, for me," Shuichi pleaded softly, just loud enough for Yuki to hear.

Yuki's eyes rolled up to encompass Shuichi in the evil look he'd been casting at Sanda.

Casting about for a way to get through this, Shuichi finally came up with a plan. "Yuki... I've got a couple days off next week. I was thinking we could spend some time together..."

Yuki winced slightly at this revelation. First their vacation, then the joint tour, they'd spent the last two and a half months in each other's pockets. Yuki had seriously been looking forward to some alone time when Shuichi went back to his usual work routine.

"But, since you still have to edit your new book, I guess I could find something else to do," Shuichi reluctantly offered. "If you want, I could go hang out with Hiro or visit my family and leave you alone to work." Then to make it perfectly clear that he didn't intend to move out, Shuichi added, "I'll stay out all day and just come home to sleep."

It sounded like Yuki's version of heaven--being allowed to work all day in peace and quiet then having access to a warm and willing Shuichi at night, a Shuichi that hadn't exhausted himself from crying and wasn't pouting and giving him the cold shoulder in retaliation for being ignored. Finally, Yuki's expression relaxed into an actual smile, not the sweet, carefree smile in the picture, but close enough.

"Eyes closed, roll camera," Sanda ordered.

* * *

Yuki and Shuichi were on a set that looked a lot like their living room, comfortably sprawled on a couch almost identical to the one they had at home. It had been a long three days of filming and they had finally reached the last scene of the video shoot. Suguru and Hiro's sections had already wrapped earlier that morning with Suguru falling asleep amongst his schoolbooks and Hiro saying goodbye to Ayaka on her front step. Now it was time to film Yuki and Shuichi relaxing in front of the TV.

"Shindo-kun, look at the TV, not the crew," Sanda reminded Shuichi for the fifth time.

"Pretending to watch TV is hard," Shuichi whined.

""How the hell can it be hard?!" Yuki exclaimed, frustrated, tired, and wanting the whole miserable video making experience to be over. "You just have to look at the screen."

"But the TVs off! There's nothing to look at," Shuichi argued, not seeing how Yuki could possibly think watching a turned off TV was easy.

"If the TV was on, you would stop looking at the camera and the crew?" Sanda asked.

"Yeah," Shuichi agreed.

"Okay," the director agreed, chewing on his bottom lip while he examined the set. "Sayako, hook up the cable. Yataro, move those lights," Sanda shouted orders to his crew.

A few minutes later the TV was on, Yuki was flipping through channels, and Sanda was getting his relaxing after a long day of work footage. Then suddenly Shuichi shouted, "Stop! Go back, I love that video."

Yuki ignored Shuichi's demand and kept flipping in the direction he'd been going. Shuichi tried grabbing the remote out of Yuki's hand, but Yuki quickly moved it just out of his reach. Shuichi sat next to Yuki with his arms crossed across his chest for a second, stewing. Then he suddenly leapt into Yuki's lap to make another try for the remote. Yuki was too fast for him, his arm shooting up the very moment Shuichi landed, holding the remote too far over Shuichi's head for the petite singer to reach. Then the game of keep away was joined in earnest.

The cameraman looked to Sanda for instructions, this wasn't in the video plan. They were supposed to shoot fifteen minutes of peaceful TV watching from which to cull a three second shot. Sanda motioned for the cameraman to keep shooting, as he gleefully rubbed his hands together--this was pure gold.

Shuichi was trying to climb up Yuki to reach the remote, but Yuki twisted around to dislodge him. Shuichi made a desperate grab for Yuki's shoulders to keep from falling off the couch--then they both overbalanced and landed on the couch with a thud. Shuichi was lying on his back with his legs around Yuki's waist. Yuki was hovering over Shuichi, hands braced on either side of his lover's head--having managed to catch himself before landing his full weight on his diminutive boyfriend.

Being rather conveniently positioned and momentarily forgetting that they were on a remarkably living room-like set rather than in the privacy of their own apartment, Yuki leaned down to kiss Shuichi.

Shuichi kissed Yuki back with acclarity. Shuichi twined the fingers of one hand in Yuki's hair and slid one barefoot along the back of Yuki's calf.

Yuki slid down the couch slightly to get a better angle and shifted from his hands to his elbows, letting Shuichi take some of his weight. Still kissing Shuichi, Yuki pointed the remote at the TV and switched off the set.

"Cut!" Sando yelled, "That's a wrap!"

Suddenly reminded of where he was, Yuki blinked a couple time then jumped off of Shuichi. Shuichi slowly sat up, blushing furiously. "Come on," Yuki said, grabbing hold of Shuichi's arm. "We're going home."

"But there's an after video party," Shuichi protested as Yuki dragged him toward the exit.

"Don't care," Yuki said in a tone that brooked no argument. Yuki had something better than a party in mind.

Shuichi shrugged and figured missing one party wouldn't hurt. "Bye Sanda-san! It was great working with everyone! I know this video is going to be the best!" Shuichi shouted over his shoulder as Yuki pulled him through the door.

* * *

Seguchi Tohma had just put the burned disc of Bad Luck's latest video in his home DVD player and was searching the couch cushions for the remote. Tatsuha had visited the week before and he wasn't nearly as fanatical about keeping everything in its proper place as Mika and Tohma were. Finally locating the remote, and a couple pieces of stale popcorn, Tohma settled in to see how 'Everyday Life' had turned out.

Mika--who'd just passed by the door on her way out to shop--saw her husband on the couch in front of the TV, made a U-turn, entered the rarely used den, and joined Tohma on the couch. "What are you watching?" Mika asked curiously, gesturing vaguely at the still blank screen. Tohma rarely ever watched TV or movies.

"The video for 'Everyday Life,'" Tohma answered as he searched the remote for the appropriate button to push to start the video. "I got it this morning but I had back to back appointments all day."

"This is the one Eiri's in? Or did he back out at the last minute?" Mika asked, somewhat curious about the video herself.

"He's in it," Tohma confirmed.

"I can't wait to see this," Mika replied with glee. Yuki'd given her a hard time on so many occasions of late. Seeing him horrifically uncomfortable in pop video seemed only fair.

Tohma finally got his ultra-deluxe entertainment system working and the video started.

A shot of a bathroom sink with razor, shaving cream, and hair gel sitting on the counter adjacent appeared on the screen, accompanied by brushing sounds. The camera panned up to reveal Hiro brushing his teeth in the bathroom mirror.

Cut to a sunny kitchen. Suguru was eating cereal at a seventies style dinette.

Then the scene changed again, this time it was Yuki and Shuichi cuddled in bed together.

"That looks just like that picture," Mika commented, impressed.

"Sanda-san did an excellent job," Tohma agreed, not sounding at all please.

An alarm sounded and video-Shuichi flailed at a clock on the bedside table. The alarm switched off, Shuichi flopped back on the bed, and J-pop started playing.

Back to Hiro getting on his motorbike followed by Suguru looking out the window of a car. Then back to Shuichi and Yuki who were still sleeping.

Suguru was getting out of a dark blue mid-size sedan parked in front of NG studios. Hiro drove past on his motorbike on his way to the parking garage, waving good morning to Suguru as he passed.

Shuichi sat up in bed, scrubbed at his eyes, then looked at the clock. Apparently just realizing what time it was, he darted out of bed and into the bathroom.

Next scene was Hiro and Suguru in the studio and a harried looking Shuichi rushing in bowing and apologizing.

Then there was a montage of studio scenes. Shuichi singing, Hiro and Suguru with their instruments, all three gathered around the control board making suggestions, etc.

Finally, they all waved goodbye to each other at the entrance to NG, just as the sun was starting to set.

Suguru stepped out of a train depot and walked into a building, the camera panned around to show a close-up of a sign that read, "Ozaki High School for Young Professionals."

Hiro stopped his bike in front of another train station and Ayaka hopped on the back.

Shuichi pelted into Yuki's study and embraced a typing Yuki from behind.

"That would be more accurate if it showed Yuki yelling about being interrupted and kicking Shuichi out of the room," Mika pointed out as the scene changed to Hiro and Ayaka talking over dinner.

"It would," Tohma agreed smiling at the thought.

Next was Suguru raising his hand to ask a question in class, followed by Shuichi receiving Chinese takeout cartons from a delivery boy, then back to Hiro and Ayaka walking arm and arm through the shopping district. Then it was Suguru's turn again. The video showed him tossing his schoolbooks on his bed and switching on his computer.

Finally entering the home stretch, Hiro walked Ayaka to an apartment door, placed a chaste kiss on her cheek and bid her goodnight. Suguru was shown asleep on his bed with schoolbooks scattered around. Shuichi and Yuki were sprawled on the couch watching TV.

Then, the tussle for the remote began and Tohma's eyes widened in shock. Eiri looked happy. His eyes were those of the same cynical jerk everyone knew as Yuki Eiri, but he looked happy. Tohma was looking at a stranger; he was neither the tough facade from recent years nor the sweet innocent boy from long ago.

"That's wonderful," Mika said delightedly. "It's just like when we were kids. I remember when he used to do that exact thing to Tatsuha," she reminisced. "Except with Tatsuha they'd usually end up kicking and biting," Mika added when the impromptu wrestling match turned into a make out session. Then Yuki switched off the TV in the video and the video 'switched off' at the same time.

"Did he?" Tohma said faintly in the ensuing silence. "I wouldn't have thought Eiri-san would have ever done such a thing."

Mika shrugged and said, "Come to think of it, you didn't spend much time with Eiri before..." Mika broke off momentarily, not sure what to call what happened. Then she continued, "Eiri was usually a nice kid, but he could also be an awful brat," Mika explained smiling just slightly. "He used to torment Tatsuha any chance he got. I think it might have been jealousy. Tatsuha has always been father's favorite, even though him and Eiri are almost exactly alike."

"I see," Tohma replied, finally seeing something that up until now he had never realized. It had just occurred to Tohma that perhaps, just perhaps, that his love for Eiri wasn't what he'd thought all this time. Maybe it was all just guilt and need, Eiri's need for someone to lean on and Tohma's need to be needed.

Lately, it had seemed like Tohma didn't know his brother-in-law at all. It also looked like that complete idiot Shuichi had gotten closer to Eiri than anyone ever had in just a few short months.

The evidence was incontrovertible. Things were not as Tohma thought. Tohma was no longer sure that the feeling he felt for Eiri was love. Tohma wasn't even sure if the Eiri that he'd care for so much even existed or if he was merely a figment of his imagination. The Yuki Eiri in the video was a total stranger.

Taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, Tohma brushed aside his doubts. Perhaps he didn't know as much about Eiri as he'd thought, but it was just a video. With his usual sanguine smile back into place, he turned to Mika and asked, "Have you eaten yet? I thought we could have a late supper at that new French place on 3rd."

"But you hate French," Mika replied, surprised by her husband's offer.

"And you love it," Tohma replied.

Mika merely smiled mysteriously and accepted his invitation.

* * *

Across town...

Shuichi, clad only in one of Yuki's button down shirts, was leaning over the balcony railing. Yuki stepped onto the balcony holding a beer and a steaming coffee cup. Seeing Shuichi's dangerous position, Yuki set the beverages down on the small table they sometimes ate breakfast on then grabbed hold of Shuichi's collar and hauled him back to a safer spot, well behind the railing.

"What the hell were you trying to do? Fly?" Yuki demanded of the pink haired loon currently snuggling against the front of his fluffy bathrobe.

Reminded of what he'd just been doing, Shuichi pulled away from Yuki and looked back up at the sky. "Look at the moon. It's huge! It's almost like I could reach out and touch it."

Before Shuichi could lean over the railing again, Yuki grabbed him around the waist and pulled him back. "You can't. Don't try." Then, with his free hand, he grabbed the steaming cup off the table and handed it to Shuichi. "Drink your cocoa," Yuki ordered as he grabbed his beer off the table.

Sipping obediently and leaning back against Yuki's chest, Shuichi purred in contentment. "Mmmh... marshmallows." After a few moments spent silently basking, the never quiet Shuichi said, "A full moon is so romantic."

"Uh huh, nothing puts me in the mood for romance like light reflecting off a big chunk of rock," Yuki commented sarcastically, after taking a sip of his beer.

"Spoil sport," Shuichi said accusingly. A couple more peaceful seconds ticked by, then Shuichi started again, "Yuki?"

"What?" Yuki asked tiredly, sometimes he just wished Shuichi knew how to appreciate quiet.

"Do you love me?" Shuichi asked.

Without a moment's pause, Yuki answered, "No, not at all."

Shuichi tensed up for a second and Yuki was kicking himself for going with his first impulse and saying the precise thing to set off WWIII. Then Shuichi relaxed back against Yuki and replied with complete confidence, "Liar."

**The End**


End file.
